Trading in means you bring your current car to the dealer and they apply its value to your next purchase. The big thing to watch is whether they’re giving you a fair price for your car.
MSRP is the sticker price the manufacturer sets for the car. If a dealer says they’re selling at MSRP but then adds a bunch of extras, your total cost can still be much higher.
They’re warning you not to overpay when buying a car. The key is knowing what the car should cost and not letting the dealer rush you into extra stuff.
That’s the part of the dealership where they handle the paperwork and may try to sell extra add-ons. It’s smart to go in prepared so you don’t get pressured.
Driver safety education covers habits and knowledge that reduce crash risk, especially for new drivers. In the transcript, it’s tied to understanding vehicle basics so teens can make safer decisions.
Jumpstarting is the process of using another battery (or a jump pack) to provide enough power to start a car with a dead battery. Knowing the correct steps helps prevent damage to the vehicle’s electrical system and reduces risk.
The braking system is what makes the car slow down and stop. Learning how it works helps you drive more confidently and notice when something feels wrong.
Ford is a major global automaker, and a Ford dealership sells new and used Ford vehicles and provides service and parts. Mentioning a dealership context often signals the host’s perspective on buying, inventory, and maintenance.
A trade-in is when you sell your current vehicle to the dealer as part of the purchase, typically applied toward the new car’s price. The speaker uses it as an example of how buyers with limited funds try to reduce the amount they need to finance.
A dealership’s service department is where they fix and maintain cars—like routine maintenance and repairs. The speaker is saying he’s worked in that area for a long time.
Experian is a company that keeps track of your credit history. Looking at your Experian report can show you why a lender might judge your loan application.
An extended warranty is extra insurance for your car’s repairs after the original coverage runs out. It doesn’t cover everything, so you have to read what’s included and what isn’t.
Used car shopping means looking at cars at different dealers until you find one that matches what you want. Sometimes you have to travel or wait for the right one.
A charge-off happens when a lender gives up on collecting the full payment for a while and marks the debt as a loss. You may still owe the money, and it can make your credit score worse.
Debt is money you owe to someone else, like a credit card balance or a loan. If you don’t pay it as agreed, it can show up on your credit record and hurt your score.
“0% financing” means the loan has no interest. But dealerships often only offer it to people with strong credit, so if your credit isn’t high enough you may get a different (higher) rate.
7.99% is the interest rate on the loan you end up getting. It’s important because even a “small” change in rate can make the total cost of the car much higher.
The speaker argues that buyers should check their credit report and address issues (like charge-offs) before shopping for financing. Doing so can improve eligibility for promotional APR offers and reduce the chance of being surprised by a higher rate.
Warren Buffett is a well-known investor whose advice often focuses on long-term financial stability and avoiding high-cost traps. In this segment, his video is used to support the idea of building savings and reducing vulnerability to unexpected expenses.
Borrowing at very high interest rates turns a one-time car expense (repair, deductible) into a long-term financial burden. This is why the episode emphasizes building a buffer so car issues don’t force expensive debt.
These figures describe extremely high annual percentage rates (APRs) typical of predatory lending. The key takeaway is how quickly interest costs can overwhelm a borrower’s ability to recover after a car-related expense.
The speaker frames saving as a step-by-step process to build resilience against unexpected costs like car repairs and insurance deductibles. In car ownership terms, this is essentially creating an emergency fund to avoid high-cost borrowing.
A savings account is a place to keep money you’re not using right now. Saving can help you pay for a car down payment or unexpected costs without borrowing.
LIVE
Hey folks, welcome back to another edition of My Car Guru.
I have to share something with you.
I got a phone call yesterday, for yesterday morning.
I'm standing out in the middle of a field, watching these guys work their equipment as
I'm building a new barn, well, a barn, pretty bit, well, it's not a gigantic barn.
It's 30 by 50.
And they're digging the foundation.
I was standing there with my grandson, my phone rings.
I look at it and sometimes when it's out of state, I won't answer.
I'll let it go to voicemail.
Sorry, but I get a lot of Spanish calls.
But yeah, this one was from Delray Beach, Florida.
And I could tell right at the outset that this person was not happy and elderly.
Sometimes you can tell, elderly lady.
And so I answered the phone.
I said, this is Lenny Lawson.
And she said, whether it was kind of a hesitation, she said, is this a business?
And I said, no, this is Lenny Lawson.
This is my cell phone number.
You might have the wrong phone number.
She says, well, is it 552-2020?
And I said, yes, then I dialed the right number.
And that's no way to answer a call for a business.
And I said, well, ma'am, I'm very sorry.
This is, it's not a business.
It's my car guru.
And as I said that, I can hear my voice talking on a podcast at her home.
I can hear me in the background.
And so she had heard the number and she also heard about the other number because
she said, well, can I call the other number?
I guess she thought that, you know, this was not a business number, but the other
one was and she could get what she wanted, which was a copy of the my car guru guidebook.
And so she continued.
She said, well, I want one of those books and said, what's it called?
And I said, well, it's called the my car guru guidebook.
Give me your address and I'll send you one.
Well, what's it about?
And I said, well, I help people with buying and selling and trading and, you know,
everything.
And she interrupted me and she said, we're not helping anyone and hung up on me.
And I was so hurt.
Well, I really wasn't.
I'm just thinking, okay, how can I have handled that differently?
I really couldn't think of any other way.
So when I tell you on this program that that number four, two, three, five, five,
two, 20, 20 is my cell phone number, that's what it is.
And if I enter the phone, Lenny Lawson, or this is Lenny Lawson, don't be surprised.
You know, the best way to get me is to text me, but I don't know that she did
texting, but if you have a question about a car or, you know, what's something
you're trying to buy, something you're trying to sell, you want to know what
it's worth.
If you're trying to trade your vehicle, need to know what it's worth.
You've got some type of automotive problem with something and you need some advice.
That's what that number's for.
Now, I normally don't get phone calls at night.
Well, you know, I can't think of the last time I got a phone call at night.
The last one was a guy trying to buy a car in Texas and he was in the heat of
battle.
He was actually in the car dealership and said, are you the car guru?
And, you know, he was whispering it and I said, yes, I am.
This is Lenny Lawson.
Well, I'm at a car dealership trying to buy this vehicle and it was a Toyota
truck he was trying to buy.
And he told me where he was and he said, these words, what do I say next?
And so I, as we say in the car business, I loaded his lips.
I told him what to say and he did.
He ended up leaving without trading cars because they were trying to throw in a
bunch of fees and for a bunch of protection packages and stuff.
And he said, they're charging me MSRP for this Toyota truck and now they're
wanting me to pay all these protection packages and stuff like that in order to
be able to buy it for MSRP.
And I said, sir, you're at the wrong dealership.
You need to call some more Toyota dealers and you need to pack up.
And leave.
And that's what he did.
I think we had some interaction after that.
This is like two or three years ago, but that was an evening phone call.
So I prefer not to be called in the evening because my wife and I are well
into our crime shows at that point or our PBS dramas.
We like those as well.
So don't get impatient with me.
You know, if you're calling, you need some advice.
That's the way I'm going to answer my phone.
Send me a text and if you want to copy the my car guru guidebook, send me your
email address and I'll send you a 32 page guidebook that will help you avoid
paying too much for a new car, for a used car, how to evaluate a used car.
What to watch out for when you walk into a finance office after you've already
committed to buy a vehicle and now you got to listen to another sales pitch.
What do you do?
It's all in the my car guru guidebook.
423-552-2020, send me a text with your email address and if you have a teen
driver and you want them to get off on the right foot when it comes to driver
safety, understanding how a car works, how to jumpstart a car, how to change
a flat tire, all these different things.
If you want them to know this stuff, understand how their braking system
works, how, what, what's the difference between four wheel drive and all wheel
drive and two wheel drive and all these different things.
I've included it in this guidebook.
It even has a section for what to do if you get pulled over by the police,
state trooper, whoever.
There are things that you should do and things that you shouldn't do.
And there are three things that you have to have in the car with you or you are
going to get a ticket or at least a warning.
These are things that teenagers need to know.
If you want a copy of that one, that one might win a Pulitzer or Pulitzer.
Well, probably not, but it will be very valuable.
Now, is your teenager going to want to read it?
Probably not.
You know, the kids that came to the, to the new driver experience, they were
like prisoners walking into prison and because they didn't want to be there
just like prisoners.
And so I had to make it fun.
I knew first I had to feed them.
So we had pizzas all over the place and we have drinks and all that stuff.
Even had napkins.
I know they're not used to napkins, many of them.
That's what a sleeve is for.
But yeah, we had napkins.
So we got them fed and then we educated them and they left with smiles on their
faces.
I did give them a free gift as well.
Some of them got a, an escape hammer.
Have you seen those hammers where you can break glass?
Yeah.
And you can also cut seat belts.
If you have to get somebody out of a burning car or a, you know, in a car
accent, they're upside down, you can't unbuckle their seat belt.
You can just slice the seat belt into other people got a digital tire pressure
gauge and they were just so happy.
They just had new toys to play with, but they also left.
You know, if it, if they left with just a few little nuggets that they can use
to be safer, like never trusting a green light.
People say, yeah, you're supposed to stop at a red light.
Yeah, you're supposed to, but a lot of people don't.
They run red lights and that's why when the light turns green, you should
always look left because that's where they're coming from.
So there's all kinds of things like that in the teen guidebook.
And if you want that as well, just tell me, I'll send you a PDF of it.
And if you don't know what a PDF is, then send me your address, your mailing
address, name and mailing address.
And I'll, I'll print them out for you.
Send it to you that way in the mail.
Okay.
I'll take my first break.
I'll be back here in just a second.
Okay, I am back.
You know, sometimes I forget that this may be the first episode of my car guru
that some people listen to.
And so I'm sorry if, if I repeat myself, but I am a new car dealer currently.
I have a Ford dealership and a Nissan dealership in Greenville, Tennessee.
And I've been doing this for 48 years now.
My family has been in the car business since 1929.
My dad got in, well, that was my grandfather.
My dad got into it in 1956 and I did in 78.
So I have seen and experienced just about everything you can experience in
the car business, including very difficult times, very, very good times.
And just about every car buying experience, every kind of customer
that you can imagine, every scenario from people not having money and wanting
to trade in a burial plot to last week, we had a guy that had nothing but
gold and silver coins and he said, I'm not buying unless you take these coins.
Well, we did.
Took a little research, had to find a gold man, somebody that's in that
business and he had to see all the coins and verify them and looked at him under
a, you know, with a little eyepiece or whatever, magnifying glass.
So, you know, if it's happened in the car business, it's happened to me and
it's happened to my customers and I've seen it.
Everything in the service department, I've done all the jobs.
Anyway, that's enough about me.
Let's talk about you for just a minute.
So you think you have bad credit, huh?
It's amazing to me how many people just assume that they have bad credit.
They don't bother to go online, maybe sign up with Experian or maybe they're,
I don't know, the financial institution that they do business with, have
somebody check their credit.
I think a lot of people just don't want to know.
Or they don't need to know because they tend to pay cash for everything,
write a check.
Had a guy call me earlier today and he wanted to buy an extended warranty,
an extended service contract for me.
And I appreciate that.
He was going to buy a used Ford Bronco from me, but I could not find one that
fit the requirements of his daughter.
So they shopped around.
They located one in Knoxville, Tennessee, big Ford dealership down there,
and they bought it.
So that's okay.
I mean, I couldn't find him what he wanted.
And I know this guy and everything's fine, but he wanted to know why the
dealership in Knoxville was requesting that his daughter, the vehicle was put
in her name, she's the one that handed him the money.
And when I say the money, I mean cash money, like in a duffel bag, 40 grand plus.
And they needed her social security number.
And he didn't understand that because she paid cash.
Well, you know, are they going to pull her credit or something?
I said, no, they have to fill out a form for the IRS.
Anytime somebody pays $10,000 or more in cash, car dealers are
required to make sure that they're not, you know, drug people, terrorists or
whatever.
And so we are required to provide that form and it requires the SSI number.
So this feller doesn't know me as the car guru.
Matter of fact, I don't think he's ever listened to the show.
However, he knows me as Lenny Lawson, Ford dealer in Greenville, Tennessee.
And it's not an Adios.
My car guru know that and it's not a business because I don't get paid to do it.
I know it.
It's crazy.
I pay to be on this radio station.
It's not much, but I do pay really what I'm paying for are the commercial
breaks on the radio on the internet.
As far as the podcast is concerned, I have been solicited to run other ads
during my show so that I could get paid.
And I said, no, thank you.
I said, this is a personal mission of mine and I do not intend to make money
doing it and probably couldn't if I wanted to.
So let's get back on your credit.
So you don't want to know, huh?
You need to know.
And one of the prime reasons for that is that there may be something on your
credit report that does not belong there.
It belongs on somebody else's credit report.
I think it's important to see that and see what the, the banking community,
the world in general, how they look at you.
Like what if you have some charge offs?
That's when you don't pay all of a bill.
You just pay a portion of it or you don't pay a little bill that really you
didn't know about, maybe you got lost in the mail.
Maybe all three notices got lost in the mail or maybe it was an email that you missed.
And so the business, many times it's a hospital.
They just charge it off and it goes on your credit report.
And that can really hurt your credit score.
Also, your delinquencies, you know, when you're, when the bills do, you know,
you got 30 days to pay it.
You better pay it in 30 days or you're going to take a 30 a day pass.
Do notice.
And if your past do like that and you never catch up that payment, then
then you just make subsequent payments, like for another 36 months or so,
you will be showing 36 times past due because you never made up that first
payment. A lot of people don't know that.
You know, if you knew that, would you have gone ahead and paid two payments,
the one you missed and the one that's due?
I think most people would if they had the money because of the devastating
effect that that has on their credit score.
Now as credit score everything, well, it's a lot because it determines what
interest rate you're going to fall into.
See, most banks have tiers that will rank people based on their credit score.
And so if you're an A tier customer, you're the top, then you've got a credit
score of like 720 up to 800 plus.
And then the next year, you know, is it is a different range and so on down the
line and the further you go down, the higher the interest rate that you pay.
Isn't it interesting that for a lot of people, the ones that are irresponsible,
it costs them more to live than people who are simply responsible.
A responsible person can get 0% financing.
Well, I thought everybody could get it. No, no, 0% financing has a caveat.
You have to have an adequate credit score.
So the advertisement says you can get 0% financing.
So you go in and they work up a deal for you and you say, well, that's great.
And then you go in to sign the paperwork for the, in the finance office and wait
a minute, this is 7.99%.
Oh, they didn't tell you.
Yeah, you don't qualify for zero.
So the people with good credit get zero.
You pay a penalty of 7.99% because of a couple of charge-offs on your credit report.
Do you see why you might need to check that thing and get those charge-offs
cleared off? Go to the hospital and say, I didn't know I owed $25.
Well, we sent you 10 statements.
And so you pay that off.
That's the response part of responsible.
I've always talked to my salespeople.
I say, you know, you got to be responsible.
It's made of two parts, response and able.
And too many people aren't able to do the things that they want to do in life.
Simply because they, they don't respond when the opportunity presents itself to
do the right thing.
I was listening to a remarkable speech by Warren Buffett, you know, who he is,
right? One of the, well, if it's not the richest man in the world, he was at one
point, but he has been extremely successful beyond imagination.
And he was making the point of, well, he was talking about the cycle of poverty
and how people that are in poverty are stuck there because of, primarily,
because of habits.
And what poverty does is it creates a situation where it costs the poor person
more to live than it does the rich person.
You know, rich person goes to sleep at night.
He wakes up the next morning, he's worth more that morning than he was the
night before because he has money working for him.
But the poor person has this huge credit card balance or multiple credit card
balances and they go to sleep at night.
When they wake, wake up the next morning, they're more in debt because all of that
extra interest that was piled onto that balance overnight.
That's just one example.
You know, rich people are able to go to Sam's or Costco and buy in bulk and save
money. Poor people can't do that.
They, they end up going to the seven 11 and paying full retail.
They don't even go to the grocery store in many cases.
I'm not, I hope you understand where I'm coming from here.
I'm not making fun of anybody.
I'm talking about their financial situation or Warren Buffett was, and he
has this beautiful thing.
I don't, I saw it on Facebook and I don't really know how to get to it,
but just Google Warren Buffett on the cycle of poverty and it will be a
fascinating lesson for you and also something that you will,
will want to pass on to your children, loved ones,
school administrators, anybody that,
that can get this message to people and help them improve their lives,
not just their car life, which I try to help.
But their life in general. Okay, I'll be back in just one minute.
Okay. So while I was on the break, I found the actual link. It's called,
it's on YouTube. It's called Warren Buffett. Three reasons you are still broke.
And I have sent this to people who aren't broke.
I've listened to it three times myself. I've taken notes.
I just think this is something that especially young people or people that are
just, they feel like they live paycheck to paycheck.
They never have any money. If they were to have a,
a large bill come through, maybe some type of big mechanical repair on a
car, some big deductible they have to pay because of an accident.
You know, they just can't do it.
And so they end up having to borrow money at very high interest rates.
They go to a payday loan place or someplace like that where they're paying 40
and 50 and 60% interest. I know it's crazy,
but that's, that's the kind of rates that they charge that or more.
And that's one of the reasons that the, the math works against them.
And so you have to get out of that trap.
And he talks about the great way to save money and how to step your way up in
increments. And every time that you reach a certain plateau,
then you can look back and have a sense of pride and also a sense of comfort
knowing that if something happens, the heat pump goes out, you know,
you need to do some type of repair to the plumbing or you
need down payment for a car. You've got it. You know,
you don't have to go borrow it. You don't have to do without.
You don't have to pay 15% interest on a car loan. You get zero.
And sometimes in order to get there,
you have to live like a monk for a certain period of time.
You just have to stop spending money on things you don't absolutely have to
have. And you do that for a period of 90 days or six months or
longer if necessary,
so that that extra money that you have in your pocket that you're not spending
and wasting is going into a savings account. And before you know it,
you've got 500, 1,000, 2,500. You reach 10,000.
You can't imagine the sense of freedom that that gives you and no,
you can't go out and blow that just because you have it,
but you have developed a discipline that will serve you the rest of your life.
And you won't be like people that I have seen in my business.
They finally get to retirement age and they retire and then they run out of
money because they didn't have enough in their 401k.
And then they end up being a greeter at Walmart or working at McDonald's at
78 years old. Do you see him all the time?
Why else would somebody be in there doing it? They just like to work?
Maybe so. I don't know. But these are things people need to know.
They don't avoid the tough financial discussion and,
and knowing where you stand is the first step.
So find out what your credit looks like, pull a report,
call a car dealer, maybe they'll pull it for you.
Well, thanks for listening to this edition of my car guru.
If you need me, you know how to get me 423-552-2020 and I'll see you next time.
About this episode
Lenny Lawson opens with a real-life call from an elderly woman who wanted his “My Car Guru” guidebook, then pivots into how he fields car-buying and car-problem questions directly. He shares stories from dealership life, including coaching a buyer on how to avoid dealer add-on fees. The core message turns to credit: why people assume they have bad credit, how charge-offs and missed payments can quietly wreck scores, and how “0% financing” often depends on having top-tier credit. He ties it to the “cycle of poverty,” urging savings discipline to avoid high-interest traps.
