Car Edge is a service/company that helps people buy cars more intelligently. The host is bringing in Ray because he deals with how people should shop and what goes wrong in the process.
Insurance is a recurring cost of vehicle ownership, and it can be a reason someone chooses to sell a car they aren’t using. The host mentions paying insurance while the car sits unused, tying ownership costs to buying decisions.
Concept
using other people's money
This phrase is basically saying: when you’re not using your own money, the decision can feel different. In car buying, it often connects to financing and how the deal is structured.
A BMW 318i is a smaller BMW model. Here it’s mentioned as the specific car the buyer bought, and it’s used to illustrate how dealership negotiations can play out.
Term
write you a check
Writing a check means paying right away with money from your account. The host is using it to show that the purchase went quickly because payment was immediate.
This is the whole routine of buying a car, from figuring out the price to signing paperwork. The point here is that the system often favors the dealer because they have more information than the customer.
A franchise system means the car company uses local dealerships to sell its cars. The dealership can sell the cars, but the manufacturer usually sets some ground rules.
Lucid is a car brand mentioned as an example of selling directly to buyers. The discussion is about how that can conflict with the traditional dealership system.
Rivian is a newer automaker. In this discussion, it’s mentioned because it sells cars directly to customers instead of relying on the usual dealership model.
Different states have different rules for how car companies can sell. The transcript says some places have allowed direct sales, which changes what dealers can do.
Dealer groups are organizations that speak for car dealers as a group. Here, they’re mentioned because regulators sent them a warning about possible rule violations.
The U.S. is made up of 50 states, and each state can have its own rules. So car-buying protections and enforcement can vary depending on where you live.
Every state has a top lawyer (the attorney general) who can help enforce consumer rules. That’s why what protects you in one state may be different in another.
“Lindsay Auto Group” is referenced in connection with a legal settlement involving the FTC. The context suggests the company was accused of misleading or corrupt advertising, which is relevant to listeners because it highlights how dealer marketing can cross ethical or legal lines.
This is a core car-buying strategy: distinguish “needs” (must-haves) from “wants” (nice-to-haves) before shopping. The speaker argues that focusing on needs typically lowers the final price, while wants can push you toward higher trims, add-ons, and more expensive options that inflate cost.
It means your total cost goes up when you add things you don’t really need. Dealers can also push upgrades or extras that make the final price higher than you expected.
Some people shop by what they pay each month. That can make the car seem cheaper than it really is, because the total price and loan details matter too.
They’re suggesting a simple budget rule: don’t let car costs take up more than about 10% of your monthly income. And that includes insurance, gas, and upkeep—not just the payment.
The mistake is negotiating based on the monthly payment. It’s better to negotiate the car’s price because that’s the part you can compare directly between offers.
Brand
Koreans
“Koreans” is shorthand for Korean automakers (commonly brands like Hyundai and Kia) when discussing which car to buy. The transcript uses it as an example of how recommendations can vary based on brand preferences and needs.
A transparent price means you can see what the car costs and what fees are included before you buy. The goal is fewer surprises and less pressure at the dealership.
An out-the-door price is the total you’ll pay to get the car, not just the sticker price. The speaker is saying buyers should be able to see that total up front.
Costco is mentioned as having a car-buying program where the price is handled more fairly. The idea is that participating dealers have to follow the pricing rules, or they get removed.
A trade-in is your current car being used as part of the payment for the new car. The warning here is that some “good prices” only work if you trade your car in.
“Do your homework” refers to researching pricing and deal terms before buying. In this segment, it’s framed as using tools and data (like the website mentioned) to reduce the need for buyers to manually investigate every detail.
LIVE
Well, today we're here over the computer. I'm not traveling this week. And I'm here
with Ray Shevska from Car Edge. He's the co-founder. How are you, Ray?
I am well. How are you? How are you? Did I butcher your last name?
No, Shevska, you were pretty right on it. Shevska, it looks worse than it sounds.
I know. I don't mind. It's a little easier, only for the better. So anyway, I don't know,
Ray, in person, but I know him through this crazy world of digital connection. We work
both work and automotive. He has a lot more experience in the parts to sell cars. I don't,
I actually haven't owned a car since 2002. Oh my goodness. No, because I get cars from the
manufacturers. So I had a BMW that I was not using. So I just sold it because it was just
like here in that driveway and like taking space, paying insurance and all that kind of thing.
So I just sold it and I basically drive other people's cars. So which is not a bad thing to do.
Well, I, you know, there's two things in life that I've learned that are very important,
using other people's money and apparently driving other people's cars.
Yeah, you always say it doesn't matter who owns the stuff, it matters who uses it, right?
Exactly. So again, because of that, I have zero experience in the past 25 years about buying
cars. The last car I actually bought that BMW was paid cash. It was a middle-aged crisis car
after the wars. So I went, I had some money left and I went to the dealership and said,
how much is that car? It was a BMW 318i, the convertible. They said it's, I think they said
like 43 or something. And I said, what about if I write you a check right now? And I said,
okay, 38, 500. Okay, here's the check. I wrote the check. I drove out of the car. I mean,
it was literally, I don't know, 20 minutes or something. The dealership experience is not
that easy, right? And nobody, not everybody can do that, right, Rick? Unfortunately, buying cars
in this country is probably one of the most troubling and broken processes that we have.
It's all based on the information, a cemetery where the dealers have all the information and
well, the customers have none. And unfortunately, it's a process that usually is long and drawn
out and designed to extract every last penny from the customer that a dealership can.
Yeah, we want to revise a little bit the history of that deal because it was originally
created to protect, I mean, like the system in which the dealers are completely independent
from the manufacturers, they can set up whatever rules they want. And that was to quote unquote,
protect the customer from the manufacturers, right? Is that more or less the history of...
Well, you know, I think the reality is that the manufacturers didn't want to have to invest in
dealerships and all the infrastructure involved in setting up dealerships. So they went with a
franchise system. And when they did that, they seated control over what the dealers could actually
sell the vehicles for. Yes, the manufacturers have a suggested retail selling price, but the
dealers are free to sell at whatever price they choose because it's an open market and the market
determines what people are ultimately willing to pay. Yeah. And a lot of people don't even know what
that so-called MSRP is, right? Manufacturers suggested retail price. Yes. And the key is suggested.
Exactly. And the suggestion could be terribly high for what the value of the vehicle really is,
or it could be incredibly low when when something's in short supply and there's a
high demand for it. And do we want to revise a little bit about the NADA, the National Association
Deal? No, National Automobile Dealers Association. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're out there and they're
funded and their only goal in life is to protect automobile dealers' rights to be able to continue
with the franchise agreements that that exist. And they will fight tooth and nail to keep
manufacturers from selling direct to consumers like Rivian does or Lucid does or Tesla does.
Yeah. And the new Volkswagen division scout wants to do and apparently they have already won some
battles in some states, I believe Colorado, maybe. Yes. I'll tell you directly, but I mean,
they're fighting it because the NADA, I remember a few years ago, I did an interview with one of the
current presidents or CEO. I don't know what the title is. And I told him like, I mean,
this is not good for the consumer. I went to the website and I was looking for any word in
their mission statement about protecting consumers. And I don't think I found the word consumer
until page 348 or something. I'm not exaggerating, but they don't protect the consumers.
Their only mission is to advance the position of the of the dealers. And I mean, that's what
they fought tooth and nail when when the FTC came up with its cars law that ultimately didn't go
into effect that was designed to protect consumers. I remember that one. Yes. I mean, they fought it
tooth and nail. And that's why why my son and I have the company we have car edge, because
we consider ourselves consumer advocates first. And we want to try and educate people so that
they won't get taken advantage of when they go to the dealer. And and we want it to be a fair,
open, honest and transparent transaction. And, you know, the FTC's letter a few weeks ago to 97
dealer groups suggesting that perhaps they were in violation of some of the regulations, and it's
time to clean it up. Maybe I think that's a warning shot to the industry that it's time to become
more transparent. Yeah, the problem is that the loving system in this country, not only for automotive,
in a way, I might sound too harsh or something, but it's like corruption embedded into the system,
because the loving groups protect the companies don't protect the consumers. And there's so much
money involved in that that there's actually no easy way to do it the other way, right?
Well, as I like to say, unfortunately, we seem to have the these these lobbying groups seem to have
the best politicians that their money can buy. And and that's what lobbying is, it is, it is all
designed to influence through donations and other forms to influence legislators to act on behalf
of the of the lobbyists. And that's what we see happening. And that's why it's so difficult
to find all the states out there that should be trying to protect their their consumers in their
states. Instead, are protecting those who are taking advantage of the consumers. Yeah, that's
the other thing in this country, we have basically 50 countries, because every state has its own laws
and they can do not everything they want to do, but they have they have like freedom to establish
their own laws and everything. And that makes it even more difficult, right? Yes, I mean, every
state attorney general can determine how their office is going to work when it comes to consumer
protection. And when it comes to bait and switch automotive retail advertising, some states take
it more seriously than others and and bring actions against dealers. Merlin with the aid of
the FTC just recently entered into an agreement with the Lindsay Auto Group, to pay up to $75
million in restitution for, well, corrupt advertising. And then there's other states
where it happens constantly. But there's never any actions taken from that state's attorney general.
So it depends. It depends on the state. And apparently it depends on how much the attorney
general collected from the lobbying group to determine whether or not there's going to
be any action when dealers are doing things they shouldn't do. So there's no win for the consumer,
really. I mean, unless they get to go to websites like yours and like, listen to the advice of
experts like you, right? So tell us about it. How did you first found it or had the idea to
found this this company? Do you have a personal experience, I guess, or what happened?
After my after my wife passed away, and and I decided if I think six or seven months after
that to retire, my son was my son, Zach, who was the co-founder of the company, he was concerned
that I would suffer from cognitive decline. And so he came to me and he said, Dad, I had you to help
me when it was time for me to buy a car. And I think, well, you should become America's dad,
and you should be out there to help others. And so he came up with this idea that we would
produce videos and blogs and all types of information to try and level the playing field
so that consumers would have a better understanding as to what it was the dealer was trying to
accomplish and how it is that you can counteract that. So it was it was all born because I made
his life easy when he needed to buy a car and he wanted me to help the rest of the world
make it easier to buy a car. Yeah. So we already review a few details about the health process,
but why don't we tell me maybe five or three things, three things or three mistakes that 99%
of the consumers make when they buy a car? Well, the first mistake they make, and I think this
is crucial, consumers need to separate what they need from what they want. And the reason I say that
is if they only buy what they need, ultimately, they will find that it is less expensive and
more affordable. What they want tends to tends to really inflate the price of the vehicle.
I know. So so they should deal with needs not once. Number two, they should understand their
budget. And and when I say that most people in this country are payment buyers. So they're they're
just interested in what their monthly payments going to be. And they need to really understand
what that translates into how much they can finance. So if they want a payment of of $500
a month, then perhaps they need to be looking at a $20,000 car, not a $35,000 car. And they need
to understand that before they start the process. Yeah, and there's a rule, right, about like, what
is it, 10% of your monthly income should not. That's the way we look at it. Our our suggestion is
that you should you should put no more than 10% of your gross monthly earnings towards your car.
And not just towards your car payment towards your car expense. So that has to include the monthly
payment has to include the insurance has to include the fuel costs and the maintenance.
And most people only look at the payment. And that's where they get themselves in trouble.
Yeah, $1.99 a month for whatever. Yeah, $1.99 a month, $8,000 down. But I don't have the $8,000.
Okay, well, then we're at $7.99 a month, whatever it is. But that's what the people fall for,
because most people are just concerned with that monthly payment. And they need, they need to
understand that more thoroughly. So I interrupted you. What's the third mistake then? The third
mistake that the customers tend to make is they only discuss monthly payment instead of actually
discussing the selling price of the car, or working a discount on the car, they get fixated on a
payment. And they don't get fixated on the price. And if all you're concerned about is the payment,
there are too many avenues for a dealership to obfuscate what the actual price of the vehicle
is they can they can extend the term of the loan. I want to add another mistake. And it is not
listening to people like you, or in a less, probably less level to me, I have so many,
I've been doing this for 25 years, testing cars every week. And people ask me, I mean,
my neighbors, my friends, and they say, what car should I buy? And they, as you said, they,
the needs and the likes are very different. So when I tell them, like, look at this brand,
look at that brand. Oh, no, no, no. I, for example, I say, like, look at the Koreans,
they're like really good deals, Kia Hyundai Genesis. Oh, no, no, no, I want to know they want
that. So you asked me, you already you only want a reinforcement of whatever you already have in
your or in your mind, but they don't listen. That's that's probably the biggest mistake. No,
Javier, I would absolutely agree with that. That was one of the things that I learned early on
in the industry was that customers don't want to listen. They don't want to make the the best
decision for them. They want to make, well, they want what they want, whether they can afford it
or not. So yeah, many times people will ask your advice. And then it was like, I don't know why
you bothered to ask, you didn't really want it. Yeah, it's really funny. But then now we add another
layer to all these discussions about traditional dealerships and all that. And it's the Amazon
option. Some brands Hyundai and Mazda had announced that they are going to start working
with Amazon so you can quote unquote buy your car there. But there's a big but right. Yes,
there's always a big but the and the big but with that is that ultimately you still have to go to
the dealership to pick up the car. And what I admire about what Amazon's doing is they're
forcing the dealers at least through the listings on Amazon to quote a clear transparent price
including all fees. And it's not necessarily the lowest price. You might be able to negotiate a
better price if you if you wanted to or if you tried. But the beauty of it is, it's a
transparent price. You know exactly what they're selling the car for, you know exactly what all
their fees are. And I think that's what most people are looking for. They don't necessarily
have to have the lowest price. They just want the ease of the transaction. They just they just
want to be able to see what they're being asked to pay without any without any questions and
without any pressure. And I think that's the beauty of what Amazon's doing. And reality is that
most dealerships should be operating that way anyway. The FTC is trying to get them to follow
suit. Yeah. And actually there's other options. I believe Costco has a pretty good program. And
actually the dealership that work with Costco, if they don't respect the price, they drop from
that program. So there's another option like that, right? But again, it's like transparency. If you
said like this is the price, you respect that. Exactly. I mean, that's the whole thing that
we're about at Car Edge is that we have built my son, God bless him, built AI negotiating agents
that can negotiate anonymously on behalf of customers. And we are able to extrapolate data
from every one of those. I don't know, there's been about 50,000 negotiations since we started it.
And my son's been able to extrapolate information from all that data to create what we call a
dealer transparency index. And it rates dealers on an A to F scale based on how transparent
their price quotes are to us because we get copies of every one of the price quotes.
And that's, I think, all people are really asking for is that whatever the advertised price,
that should be the price plus the fees that have been disclosed, not fees that have been
hidden. Yeah, exactly. Or that they come up with at the last time, oh, everything is fine. But now
here's another 10,000 for saying goodbye to you. Or that price is only good if you finance through
us. Or that price is only good if you have a trade in. The idea behind the advertising should
be the price is the price. Damn it. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's a great data. There are some companies
and initiatives like yours, so people can get better informed. And maybe if you don't listen to
you or me, they listen to AI and maybe that'll convince them. Let's hope they listen to somebody.
Well, thank you very much for the information. So people, I mean, there's resources,
do your homework, or actually no, just follow this website and they'll do the homework for you,
right? Absolutely. Well, thank you very much for your time again. Hopefully this will help
some people in their next purchase of a new car. Thank you for having me, Javier. I really enjoyed
this. That's it for today's AI Auto Podcast with Javier Moda. Hope you enjoyed the ride as much
as we did. Tune in next time for more on how AI steering the wheel of tomorrow's autos. Drive safe,
stay curious, and catch you later.
About this episode
Ray Shevska of Car Edge breaks down why buying a car in the U.S. is so often confusing and costly, blaming opaque dealer practices, lobbying groups, and state-by-state enforcement. The conversation centers on three common mistakes: buying wants instead of needs, focusing only on monthly payments instead of total cost, and ignoring expert guidance that could prevent bad choices. They also discuss transparency trends like Amazon-style pricing, Costco programs, and Car Edge’s AI negotiating agents that generate a dealer transparency index.
In this episode, we sit down with Ray Shefska, co-founder of CarEdge, who brings decades of industry experience and deep data insights to the car-buying process. He breaks down the three most common mistakes consumers make when purchasing a new car—and shares a simple, practical solution to avoid them. We also explore how platforms like Amazon Autos are changing the game with transparent, no-haggle pricing, and what that means for today’s car buyers looking for the best deal.
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