CarGurus Just Put the Entire Auto Industry On ALERT | Episode 1099

Insurance isn't one size fits all.

That's why drivers of trusted progressives

name your price tool for years.

Just tell Progressive what you want to pay,

and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget.

Visit Progressive.com to find a car insurance rate that

works for you.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates,

price and coverage match limited by state law.

Hon, is your new pinball machine in our budget?

Key bank will meet you in that our money is now our money

moment.

Actually, our banker, Steve, recommended

we start a joint checking account for bills

and keep our individual accounts for things

like pinball machines.

Did someone say banker Steve?

I was in the neighborhood in case you

had any checking account questions.

Steve, you're always there for us.

Now, how quickly can we open that account?

Steve, are you seeing this?

For every financial need, we'll meet you in the moment.

Key bank opens doors.

Key bank member FDIC.

The critics have spoken.

World War II with Tom Hanks is a must watch.

It is on a scale no one's ever seen before.

An enormous accomplishment.

The world turned upside down.

It's global history on the grandest scale.

All wars change the world.

But none of them like the second World War

did.

Unlike any World War II docu-series before.

World War II with Tom Hanks.

New episode tonight at 8 only on History,

next day on the app.

It's noon here in Venture City, New Jersey,

and our nation's capital, Washington, DC.

And this is Courage Live for Monday, June 29th,

with your hosts, me, Ray here, hanging out in my living room,

and Zach hanging out with his medals in his office

in Washington, DC.

How are you today, handsome?

I've cooled down, man.

It is freaking hot here in Washington, DC.

I think we're going to get some record setting heat

for the 4th of July coming up this week, which is very exciting,

but also a little scary to be outside.

Dad, I'm so excited to be here on Monday,

excuse me, June 29th with you.

Today's show is brought to you by caredge.com,

a friendly reminder.

My dad and I, with our incredible team,

have for almost seven years now.

Some might even say, Dad, somewhere between six to seven years.

Some might say, yes.

Some might say.

Been working on caredge.com.

Back at caredge.com.

We have a car search.

We have a buying service.

We have Ask Car Edge, our research center,

and dealer reviews.

Everything can start with a free consultation

with our team, however.

If you want to meet Justice, Annie, Tina, Mitch,

Tony, they can share more with you about what we're up to.

Check it out. That and so much more.

Back at caredge.com.

Huge story this morning, Dad.

Truly a huge story.

Car Gurus, which if you're unfamiliar with Car Gurus,

the odds are you're probably not.

They're very proud back on their website

to let you know that they are the number one

most-shopped car website in the United States of America.

Car Gurus gives dealers July 14th deadline to disclose fees.

Dad feels like the car business is changing a lot.

We've got the FTC putting pressure on dealers.

We've got Carvana putting pressure on dealers.

And now Car Gurus giving dealers a two-week deadline

to get fees on their website.

What's the story here? What's going on?

Well, Car Gurus has decided that as a third-party vendor,

they really can hold their customers' feet to the fire.

And what do I mean by that?

Well, they can stop allowing dealers

to artificially price vehicles below the real selling price,

which is what so many dealers do when Car Gurus.

They come in with a low price.

Car Gurus comes with a tag that says,

great deal until you try to buy it.

And then suddenly when you try to buy it,

all the fees that are associated with that car deal

are then disclosed.

And well, the FTC finds issues with that.

Who are we? We're Car Edge.

We find issues with that.

And so Car Gurus has decided,

well, perhaps we should be more compliant

with what the FTC would like to see

and what customers would like to see.

And that is to require their dealers

to list all the fees that are associated

with the purchase of that vehicle.

And if they don't,

then their listings get pushed down

lower in the search results pages.

Now, here's what's interesting.

So in practice, here's what this means.

On the Car Gurus dashboard,

dealers can add their included charges

with the fee setup tool.

Dealers must use the fee setup tool

to toggle fees included in my inventory fee

to fair selling all-in prices or risk losing deal ratings.

Like you said, for consumers,

Car Gurus will be adding badging on search results

and vehicle detail pages,

a dedicated search filter for transparent pricing.

This is a huge moment.

This is a great moment.

May I burst the bubble?

Yeah, please do.

This is a great moment.

And I do want, if anyone over at Car Gurus watches today's show,

I commend you.

I thank you for the effort of what you're doing.

Here's what you need to do next.

Here's a perfect example.

Here's one of your dealers.

They've already got their Includes Dealer Fee badge

on their website.

They've got a 4.11 out of five-star review.

This is Paul Miller, Toyota, and Pinebrook, New Jersey.

Here's the deal.

This is what Car Gurus needs to do next.

Well, first, that's very reassuring here

to see an error on Car Gurus' website.

So it doesn't only just happen on caredge.com.

Okay, let me reload the page.

I'm trying to click on Includes Dealer Fee.

So that is actually first thing.

Man, we have errors all the time back on our website

when we're doing it live.

Come on, Car Gurus, show me the fees.

Oh my goodness.

I guess they won't.

No, come on.

I really want to see the fees.

Seriously?

Okay, well, when it works,

this is supposed to show you the dealer's fee.

Yeah. Wow, that is so frustrating.

What it shows when I've used it in the past,

and I'll click into the listing,

maybe it'll actually show it on the listing here.

Dang, it doesn't show it, Dad.

That is so annoying.

Includes Dealer Fee.

There we go.

Okay.

You can see it right there.

They've got their $995 Dock Fee.

Okay.

Okay, this is transparency.

This is what we want to see, right?

Yes.

Okay, here's the same exact dealer back on CarEdge.com.

Again, for those of you that don't know,

we have the Dealer Transparency Index.

Our grades and our badging come from

mystery shopping dealerships

and getting out-the-door price quotes.

This dealer has a D.

Let's scroll down and let's view

some of their recent quotes.

Here's a quote that we got from about a month ago

on May 17th.

Dealer Dock Fee, we also have it at about $1,000.

At $1,007.55.

What do we also see here, Dad?

Vehicle theft replacement for $399

and resist all 360 for $1,495.

I don't mean to burst the bubble.

Yes.

But this is one step forward

and we need like two or three steps for it.

What CarGurus needs to do in my humble opinion

Yes, I'm listening.

Mystery shop all of the dealers in their network

and verify that by putting on their dashboard

an option for them to toggle fees

that they actually do it and are doing it honestly.

This to me, Dad.

Yes.

Has the potential to be the new race to the bottom

where if there's no follow through on enforcement,

it's as hollow as it is when the FTSEADS

traditionally come out and said,

make sure you put all your online,

your fees and your advert.

Okay, so a dealer can toggle a fee.

What happens when you actually call me at the price?

Come on, man.

Let me ask you a question.

Perhaps you should get in touch with CarGurus

and work at a deal where you would mystery shop

all their dealers for them.

Dad, you're gonna love this.

And I think our community does too.

I had a call last week, maybe it was two weeks ago now

with the chief product officer over at CarGurus,

got him to issue, really nice guy.

Yeah.

Super fun.

I followed up, I said, thanks for your time.

No response.

So you know what that CarGurus knows what we're up to?

They know the crusade that I'm on,

that you're on, that our community is on.

And I love, again, there's absolutely no,

there's no ounce to me that doesn't love

this announcement from them.

Yes.

But man, oh man, I think it just creates a new set of rules

that can be gamified by these dealers,

by the nefarious ones, by the ones that don't wanna play

by leading with transparency.

It's like, it's got the potential here

to just be another nothing burger

and we shouldn't let that happen.

And so that's the thing I wanted to flag today is,

what CarGurus did, tremendous.

Dealers now, if they wanna see their listing show up

in the search results of the number one

shop Car website in the world, they have to add fees.

Let me ask you.

Who's policing this?

Let me ask you a silly question.

So Paul Miller, Toyota, is now including on their website

on the vehicle page.

I think they're doing it on CarGurus,

I think they're doing it on their own website.

So what happens if you mystery shop them

for one of those vehicles and ask for that

out the door breakdown and see what other fees

they might attach to it above and beyond that 995 hour.

That's what we just did, Dad.

I mean, that's what I'm showing you.

But my point is do it today.

Yeah, we can cut off another one, absolutely.

Yeah, as opposed to from a month ago,

let's see if they've cleaned up their act at all.

Dad, here's one, we have another quote from them

just from June 9th.

Okay.

I mean, this one fortunately, whoops, scroll up here.

Fortunately doesn't have that resist all

for whatever it was, but you can see right there,

it's got $399 in vehicle theft replacement.

Where was that?

Where was that in their online listing?

And still the docket fees are 1,007, not 995.

Come on.

So yeah, I mean, we can kick off mystery shops all day long.

This is literally what we do is we mystery shop

dealers nationwide every single day.

But man, oh man, this idea or this notion, which again,

I think it's a great first step.

You got to disclose fees, absolutely.

Who's policing what fees get disclosed?

The only way to know the actual price

is to contact the dealer and get the door price.

That's why we preach it.

That's why we ask everyone to do it.

I'm very nervous, Dad, that these big platforms,

these endemic platforms are going to get a bunch

of headlines and a lot of goodwill,

which again, they deserve.

They were the first mover here,

but there has to be follow-through.

There absolutely has to be follow-through.

And Dylan's right, maybe it's semantics,

fees versus add-ons.

Okay, maybe.

But I think that would really make what the FTC's

striving for here to be pretty hollow.

Hey, you have to disclose fees,

but don't worry about disclosing add-ons.

That would be a big bucket of BS.

Well, well, well, you know, as well as that might be BS.

I happen to have here advertising a price that fails

in the take into account the amount

of additional required down payment

or requiring customers to buy additional items

not reflected in the advertised price.

So, according to the FTC, yeah, they'd like to see the fees,

but they'd like to see everything else

that you're required to buy listed in that price.

And so, in the FTC's eyes,

there really isn't much of a difference

between fees and add-ons.

If you're adding it on, it's gotta be disclosed in the price.

And if Paul Miller Toyot is doing that,

it's gotta be disclosed in the price.

Is it about time that CarGurus and other third-party vendors,

you know, finally decide to police themselves

and police the dealers whose money they live off of?

Absolutely.

Do we know of dealers who have complained about these platforms?

Andrew Wright from BenArt has been complaining about it forever

because it creates an unlevel playing field.

You can't put great deal tags on prices

that you know aren't legitimate.

It's a, this is my fear here.

We've gotten rid of at least on some of these websites.

Great deal tags.

Well, now we're adding the badging of all-in pricing.

Or, you know, okay, let's pull up another example.

That's the best thing we can do is just look at examples.

Because the examples, I think, tell the real story

of where there's still necessary innovation.

There needs to be some enhancements here.

So here's an example.

This is Premier Chevrolet in Bueno Park, California.

And that, again, you can see here.

Fair deal is what they're saying,

but hey, it at least includes the dealer fees.

Okay, let's look at the dealer fees.

Okay, I hope someone from CarGurus does watch today.

So apparently you just have to click

onto the vehicle itself.

All right, so you click it onto the vehicle.

Let's see if that works.

Yeah, I really hope for their sake

that this thing works better.

Okay, there we go.

Okay, here you go.

All right, fair deal, but don't worry.

There's only an $85 dock.

Yeah.

Well, it's California.

Great, great.

Yeah.

Okay, so let's go check that out.

We recently mystery shopped this dealership.

Let's check it out.

So this is Premier Chevrolet Bueno Park.

Again, another D rated dealer.

Let's come down here

and let's view the original quote

that we received from them.

All right, so let's see here.

First things first, I don't see an $85 dock fee.

I see other fees at $118.

So that's a little bit concerning to me.

Where's the transparency there?

And I see a $995 car alarm

and $995 safe point GPS.

Should we mystery shop this dealer again today?

Absolutely.

Absolutely, we absolutely should.

But this is where the gamesmanship

could potentially happen, could potentially

will absolutely happen.

You wanna have your listings ranked higher

on these websites?

Great.

Make sure you have your fees included.

And then when the customer actually comes

into the dealership or requests the outdoor pricing

via telephone, text, or email,

just give them something totally different.

Oh, and make sure there's a lot of asterisks

on there that say it's optional somehow.

This is not the potential man to be a real big issue

when it should be a huge moment

to push the industry forward.

Well, if I may hack you on the back.

Yeah, yeah, thank you.

I mean, that's why the dealership transparency index

is so important because we don't just stop at believing,

okay, the dealer is gonna add the fees,

that we wanna see the outdoor breakdown

and see everything they're charging for.

And then if the initial quote suddenly has things

that weren't listed in the advertised price,

that's in violation of what the FTC wants to see.

That's definitely in violation

of what customers wanna see.

Yeah, most importantly, the people who wanna buy cars

who are buying more cars from Carvana right now

than they are from traditional car dealers,

what do they want?

They just want all in easy pricing,

don't upsell me crap.

If I want the crap, I'll ask for it.

When you create mechanisms for,

on the CarGuru dashboard,

dealers can add their included charges

with the fee setup tool.

The next bullet point that needs to be,

and CarGurus once a month will mystery shop

all dealers in their network to verify the information

put in the CarGurus dashboard is the actual information

quoted on an out-of-the-price book.

That is not the second bullet,

and that's why this is a big potential nothing burger.

You happy now?

No, I'm like fired up, obviously.

Okay, excuse me.

So how are you gonna change it?

Ish, freaking CPO at CarGurus, respond to my email, man.

Come on, wake up.

You guys are doing the right thing,

you're moving one step forward,

you gotta go 23 steps forward.

Be the industry leader, come on, mystery shop your dealers.

Earl Stewart, dad, who we love.

We love Earl Stewart and what he stands for.

Down in South Florida.

Earl Stewart on his radio show has been mystery shop

and dealers for decades.

We know mystery shop is the way.

I've had conversations with the fine team over USAA.

USAA has employed mystery shoppers for decades.

Like, come on, mystery shopping is 100% the way

to get transparent information to the forefront.

There's a lot of opportunity here,

and this CarGurus story, again, is tremendous,

but it also could be nothing.

Les Schwab tires has been proudly serving communities

for over 70 years,

and we've collected thousands of inspiring stories,

like Brett on the way to his wedding

when a flat tire left him stranded.

The clock was ticking, his bride waiting.

He made one call, and a Les Schwab service truck

was there to save the day.

Brett was back on the road and off to say, I do.

At Les Schwab, we're proud to keep you rolling.

Les Schwab tires, our greatest story is yours.

Stories are composites inspired by real customer feedback.

At Century, understanding starts with taking a seat,

talking face to face,

getting to know your business firsthand,

diving into details, seeing risk from every angle,

becoming experts in your business,

and crafting coverage that really makes a difference.

So, save us a seat, we've got work to do.

Property and casualty coverages are underwritten

by a member of the Century Insurance Group,

Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

For a complete listing of companies, visit century.com.

Policies, coverages, benefits, and discounts

are not available in all states.

See policy for complete coverage details.

From lashes for days

with the viral liquid lash extensions mascara,

to lift in color from the brilliant eye brightener,

Thrive Cosmetics is the go-to for amplifying everyday looks.

Plus, every product is 100% vegan, cruelty free,

and made with clean skin loving ingredients

that work with your skin.

Amplify your everyday.

Go to thrivecosmetics.com slash shine26

for an exclusive offer of 20% off your first order.

That's Thrive Cosmetics, C-A-U-S-E-M-E-T-I-C-S dot com

slash shine26.

Life experience is an excellent teacher.

It's time you get the recognition you deserve

for those hard earned lessons.

Purdue Global values the experience

working adults bring to the table.

Whether you're interested in a rapidly growing field

like cybersecurity, business, nursing,

or any of Purdue Global's other 170 programs,

earning the credentials you need may be faster than you think.

Try our experience calculator to see if you could be eligible

for course credit and start your comeback today

at PurdueGlobal.edu.

It could be.

And that's why I think perhaps, you know,

every one of these third party vendors needs to contact you

and work out a deal where you can mystery shop the dealers

for them.

But the truth of the matter is we beat every one of these vendors

to the punch with the Dealer Transparency Index.

We actually are able to provide or let me rephrase it.

Not on are we able to provide.

We are willing to provide to customers

who would like to see it, the receipts showing what it is

that the dealers are doing because they have sent us,

they're out the door quotes.

So it's one thing I agree with you.

It's one thing to take that step forward.

It's another thing to actually provide customers

with verification by showing the copies of the out the door

worksheets, by actually being able to break it down line

by line like a customer would.

You know, I was asked this morning in an interview I did.

Well, why is the Dealer Transparency Index important?

Well, because my response was, well, I don't know.

I would think as a customer, if I'm going to look at a car,

I would rather shop a dealership that has adequately

passed a transparency index than one who has failed.

So it provides a customer with a deeper understanding

as to how each dealership operates.

So yeah, there's huge value in that.

I don't, as a customer, I don't want to go to a retailer

that has proven over the course of its history

that it'll screw me at its first opportunity.

And in many cases, you can find that out

at the Better Business Bureau, or you might be able to find that

out on some review websites.

But we know those review websites get tainted information.

What isn't tainted is actually pulling up the out the door

quotes that we received.

And so that's important.

Huge opportunity here.

Let's come to the chat then, and then let's switch over

to our next story for today from Robert.

So private companies are going to be in charge of making sure

of compliance.

I, in my heart of hearts, believe that there should be

a commercial incentive, is the word that I use,

for why dealers should operate differently.

And yeah, I do think websites like CarGurus, CarStockCon,

AutoTrader, all of those true car even,

and CarEdge, to be clear too, we should create a level enough

playing field that dealers who operate transparently

win and the dealers who don't lose.

That's my core belief.

And so yeah, I do think private companies play a role in that.

From Steve here, Dad, I found that most dealers not want to give

an O.T.D. price at all.

We are actually updating the dealer transparency index this week.

And I am so nervous, Dad.

Yeah.

Truly.

We are about to add an additional 40,000 F-rated dealers

to the dealer transparency index.

Dealers who do not give pricing via text or email

are going to be automatically graded, excuse me, an F.

Well, yeah.

You won't give the information that a customer requests.

You're not a dealer.

You're not a transparent dealer.

Excuse me.

You're not a transparent dealer.

So yeah, that's that one.

It'll be interesting to see what happens on the other side of that.

But yeah, many dealers don't like to give out pricing unless you come

into the dealership or do it over the phone, which obviously

need to have these things in writing.

And we've got this suggestion from 4491X8E.

How about have a mandatory out-the-door price sticker on all vehicles?

That could be an interesting evolution here, Dad.

We got to have a like a Monroney label, but an OTD label for all vehicles

called the Shepska label for all that we care.

That could be interesting.

Yeah.

I mean, that would be you would just base it on the locale.

Not every one of your customers might be from that area.

But if you are, this is what the state fees are.

This is the registration, tax, title, processing fee, whatever it is.

But here's the breakdown.

And then if you're from out of the area, that could change based on

what the tax rate registration fees are for the area where you're

going to register the vehicle.

But yeah, absolutely.

They're, listen, in my heart of hearts, I don't think good dealers out there,

the good ones, really would have a problem with providing that level of detail

and information to their customers if they knew that every other dealer had

to do the same thing.

The problem for many dealers is that they know their competitors will not do that.

And so the good dealer is put into this awkward situation of knowing that the

bad dealer is going to get more clicks and more eyeballs on their vehicles

through fraud and deceit.

Yeah, you know, I've said it before, as a customer, you have, you have,

there's a moral dilemma that you're faced with when you are pitting a

honest dealer against a dealer that lied to you to get you there.

And so it, once you establish that the dealer that lied did in fact lie to get

you there, then it becomes your moral dilemma.

Do I reward them for lying?

Yeah.

Or do I go to the dealer that tried to be open and honest with me?

A lot of people are going to say, well, I'm here, let me just get it over with.

So they'll end up rewarding them.

You shouldn't, in my opinion, but that's just me.

Yeah, let's come here to the chat a little bit more and then a switch gears from E.

White.

How many dealers do you have in the transparency index?

I'm looking right now, not seeing some in my area in there.

We've got, as of this moment, 11,543 dealers scored nationwide.

Again, that number is going to skyrocket up this week when we add all the dealers who

have not provided OTD quotes to us, they are going to be grade rated F because they

do not provide information on pricing via text or email.

The way to use this is obviously search for a particular area in the search right there,

or some of you I see asking in the chat as well, do you have a good Nissan dealer just

like you do a Toyota dealer?

We are starting to build out certified partners, y'all.

These certified partners guarantee they have to be A rated.

That's the number one criteria, the only criteria.

Then they have to guarantee a certain level of experience at the dealership.

So Regal Nissan here is one of the good guys, 40 verified out the door price quotes.

I'm bringing that up in the context of this message here from SD2025PGT.

Then from these pages, you can obviously click on shop inventory there or just call them,

let them know you're from CarEdge.

This is, I think, dad to this comment from SLVR Origins.

The gamesmanship is problematic and will continue.

Yes, unless there's enforcement and then commercial incentive to operate differently.

So fingers crossed, we're pushing the industry in the right direction.

Again, congratulations to car gurus for what they did.

I think it's tremendous what they did, but there's an opportunity to do it as a whole.

What they're about to do.

What they've announced they're going to do.

What will be interesting is to see what type of blowback or feedback they get from their dealers

that pay them tons of money each month and see how they enforce it.

I think dealers are ready, man.

I really do.

I sense that they're ready to actually move on from all these games and smoking mirrors and things

like that.

Let's help Paul really quickly.

How do I report a dealer who is non-compliant to the FTC mandate?

I think you just go to ftc.gov.com.

I think I'm pretty sure that is the exact URL.

FTC.gov.com.

I apologize, Paul.

Maybe we can pull it up on the screen here in a second if I got that wrong.

Can you search by zip code?

Yes, you can.

Type in a zip code, type in a state, region, dealership, type in whatever you want there.

And it should work.

All right, the other big story, I guess we'll spend more time on this later in the week as well.

Dad, we are approaching a really scary number on the home page of automotive news.

We're almost at the average marketed price for a new car.

Whoops.

I hate when they jump the page around on me.

Where'd it go?

You've got to go the other direction.

There you go.

$51,940.

We are rapidly approaching the average marketed price for new cars to be $52,000.

Well, here's the even scarier part.

And I just had this conversation earlier today in one of the interviews.

Look at how much higher the prices are today, $2,413 higher than they were a year ago,

after every one of the automakers has discussed the affordability problems that we have in the

United States right now.

So we're up $308 from a month ago.

We're up $2,413 from a year ago.

Inventory levels are declining because the manufacturers aren't producing as many cars,

because they know that there aren't enough people to afford to buy the cars,

all the cars that they're producing.

It is a trend that is moving in the wrong direction, and it's not moving at a snail's pace.

It's moving a hell of a lot quicker than that.

Now, at the same exact time, out to bring up car gurus, again on today's show,

we do have this headline in car dealership guy on his website,

New Sales Down 1.4% at Mid-Year.

So we are starting to see the car business slow down in the United States of America.

And I think that's in part because of the prices.

They've just gotten way out of hand for so many people.

Yes, no.

It's untenable for the average new car payment to be $774 a month.

It's not sustainable when 20% of all borrowers have a payment in excess of $1,000 a month.

It's not sustainable when 30% of borrowers have loans longer than 72 months.

You can't continue to go down that path and then against hope that you're going to be able

to find buyers two to three years from now.

It's...

The math doesn't math.

And that's one of the reasons why sales, new car sales, have basically stagnated

for the last 50 years.

The High Water Mark was $17.3 million new vehicle sold, I think it was 2018 or 2019.

It's gone nothing but down since then.

My suspicion is that when we have minor increases, they'll be minor.

They're just going to keep appealing to the same percentage of the population that can buy.

So we track that number on the home page of all the news every day.

Getting over the $52,000 threshold is just another milestone.

And it comes at a time when the data shows sales are down.

Let's come here, Deb, from Malkov.

Thanks for this, Malkov.

Yeah, keep Malkov.

Pups.

One problem is the high turnover in staff from GreenP to management.

If a good dealer hires a bad general manager or sales manager, things will stay the same.

I think this is spot on, don't you?

Absolutely.

And I think that relates to the question last week that we had, what advice would I give

somebody that wants to go and become an auto salesperson?

Yeah.

You have to find a philosophical match.

And so when you're interviewing, you need to interview the dealer as much as the dealer

needs to interview you.

Totally.

Yes.

And so, yeah, the good dealerships know how to find the right people and how to groom those

people and how to grow those people so that they don't ever...

I mean, when we talk to Tyler from Accom,

and he's been at Accom for 18 years as a salesman, and this is one of the shortest 10 years of

salespeople there, and he's been there 18 years.

So there are stores out there that know how to hire and how to keep staff.

For sure.

And you can see Igor here at franchise dealerships, 70% turnover in a year.

So, yeah, there's a lot of turnover in the car business and a lot of reasons why

bad practices stay in practice.

But again, it doesn't change the needs for us as consumers for transparency.

We've got here from Victory Asher, 1729.

First time catching your lexium, welcome.

You've helped me with my car buying knowledge a ton.

Thanks so much, Dad.

That puts a smile on my face.

And Asher does the same for you.

It does as well on mine.

Thank you.

No, I mean, literally, what's the point of getting up every day and trying to do these

shows if we can't impart some knowledge and grow people's understanding as to what the process is

and how to play the process in a way that at least might neutralize what the dealerships are doing

or maybe even tilt it slightly in your favor.

Yeah, make it more fair, efficient, transparent for everyone.

Yes.

Again, folks, today's show is brought to you by CarEdge.com.

My dad and I, with our incredible team for the past six, maybe even seven years now,

have been helping thousands of people every month by new and used cars.

Go to CarEdge.com to use our car search, use our buying service, ask CarEdge, our research center,

and of course, what we talked about a lot today, dealer reviews.

We mystery shop every dealer in the United States every single month.

Huge, huge, huge congrats to the industry for moving forward with more and more transparency

and a bit of a wake-up call from your friends over here at CarEdge saying,

let's make sure there's some enforcement involved so that everyone has to operate

in a more transparent way.

Dad, let's do it all again tomorrow.

There was something I wanted to mention.

What was it?

But I need a haircut.

No, I couldn't tell that you need a haircut.

Dang, I don't know.

There was something that was on my mind that I wanted to tell you on the show today,

but I totally forget.

Hopefully, it comes back tomorrow.

Or later today.

We can talk outside of the show?

We can?

Whoa.

If it wasn't for the show, I don't think I'd talk to you at all, Dan.

Oh, come on.

Let's be.

I'm kidding.

Text all the time.

All right, folks.

We're back here tomorrow.

Love you, Dad.

Enjoy the afternoon.

Love you too.

Have a great one, everybody.

We'll see you back here at noon Eastern.

I remembered it.

Go.

We have open roles.

We're going to hire for quite a few roles, and we will have our careers page up tomorrow.

So if you've ever taken an interest in joining us at CarRudge,

we are growing the team, which is really exciting.

And I know, Dad, this is news for you.

I hadn't shared this with you.

So we are going to have a handful of open roles.

We're going to announce it tomorrow.

Seated or Kaiser?

Professional roles.

Really excited for that.

I think it's a huge moment for us.

We're starting to grow significantly, and we need some more hands on deck.

So anyway, flagging that, please tune in for tomorrow's show.

We'll make that announcement then.

Whoa.

Okay, well, I'll be here.

I'll find out if I might have a new role.

Seated or Kaiser?

I'm a seated.

We're back tomorrow, folks.

Love you, Dad.

Love you too, Hits.

For a small business owner, every day is full of surprises.

Some great, some not so great.

Like when a client cancels their order at the last minute.

But here's a surprise you will like.

Progressive provides small business owners with 30 customizable coverage options

to help keep their business going strong.

So go ahead.

Surprise yourself.

Get a quote in as little as 8 minutes at ProgressiveCommercial.com.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates and Third Party Insurers.

Coverage is not available in all states or for all vehicles and coverage selections.

A fresh financial you is closer than you think.

With MyFICO, you can get the right score for your credit goal.

Including your FICO scores used for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards.

MyFICO provides your FICO score straight from the people that created it.

And you can compare your FICO scores and credit reports from all three bureaus.

Experience, TransUnion, and Equifax side by side.

Understanding your credit has never been easier.

So use MyFICO to get a clearer picture of your credit in 2026.

Visit MyFICO.com or download the MyFICO app to get started today.

Proves. Save more on what you need to get the job done right.

Right now at Lowes. Get 15% off, select Custom Entry and Interior Doors.

Plus, save $80 on the DeWalt 20V Max 2 Tool Combo Kit.

Now just $169. And at the Lowes Pro Desk,

bring us your materials list and get a quote in minutes.

Handwritten, a photo, or even a sticky note is all you need.

Keep your jobs moving faster and on budget. At Lowes.

Valor through 7-8, while supplies last. Selection varies by location.

Sound familiar? At Mattress Firm, we understand there are many problems that can keep you up at night.

Like snoring, aches and pains, or sleeping hot.

Our sleep experts have the unrivaled know-how to match you with a mattress that can help.

And right now, save $500 on temper breeze mattresses, plus get a $300 instant gift.

For the great sleep you deserve, visit Mattress Firm. We make sleep easy.

Restrictions apply, see store or website for details.

CarGurus

Carvana

dock fee

Dealer Transparency Index

out-the-door price

dealer add-ons

Earl Stewart

Monroney label

About this episode

Original notes