01:29
Ever see an idea so clearly in your head but struggle to find the time to get it all done?
01:34
Wix helps you go from, uh, I'll get to it, to, done.
01:39
Build a full site just by describing your idea.
01:42
Let an AI agent handle daily tasks, plan your next marketing campaign, or help out
01:47
customers so you can grow your business the way you want without it taking over your
01:53
Try it out at wix.com.
01:59
When the flu is keeping you up at night, don't try to tough it out.
02:02
Knock out your flu symptoms with Nyquil Intense Flu.
02:07
It provides powerful relief of your flu symptoms so you can sleep well through the night.
02:12
Nyquil Intense Flu, the nighttime sniffling, aching, aching fever best sleep with a flu
02:19
Keep out of reach of children.
02:20
Know what your vehicle needs before it needs it.
02:22
Visit your GMC-certified service center and ask for a multi-point vehicle inspection.
02:26
Plus, with the winter-ready service event, get up to $210 in stackable rebates on batteries,
02:31
brake pads and rotors, cabin and engine air filters, and wiper blades.
02:35
At participating US GM dealers only, max rebate derives from collective rebates on all eligible
02:40
Visit GMC.com slash service offers or see dealer for full details.
02:45
Multi-point vehicle inspections vary by participating dealer.
02:50
It's noon here in Veterinary City, New Jersey and our nation's capital.
02:58
And this is Car Edge Live for Friday, September 5th.
03:02
The Eagles won an O to start the year.
03:05
Oh, and your host for today's show, as usual, me, Ray here in Venture City, New Jersey,
03:12
and Zach working out of his home office today.
03:17
Is that a bike on your wall or is that some type of artwork?
03:22
How are you today, handsome?
03:24
Honestly, Dad, what a flash from the past for those of you that watched the original
03:29
back when we were your auto advocate those days.
03:32
I used to have my green Cannondale bike right behind me.
03:35
If you go watch the original videos we ever filmed over on the Car Edge channel.
03:40
We're back to the basics, baby.
03:41
Six years later, we still got the bike behind me.
03:43
Today's show, folks, is brought to you by caredge.com.
03:47
We are in the final 48 hours of our labor less save more sale.
03:52
You can get 20% off Car Edge Insights and 20% off our car buying services.
03:57
On the car buying services front, folks, just to make sure you're all familiar,
04:00
negotiation expert, $319, typically 400 bucks.
04:04
You know the vehicle you want.
04:05
You want to let our team of experts do the hard work of getting you the best deal
04:09
or our car buying service.
04:11
You have a sense for the vehicle that you want.
04:13
You need us to locate it and you obviously want us to get you the best deal.
04:16
Save 200 bucks on the car buying service right now.
04:19
We are transparent on the deals that we are able to secure for our customers.
04:24
So play around, view all the deals that we've been able to secure.
04:27
And of course, the time savings, folks, so proud of our team.
04:31
We can help out in so many different ways.
04:33
That being said, yes.
04:35
The lead story this morning, that is the fact that the car market, it is broken.
04:39
We have an interesting dealer survey that Cox Automotive ran.
04:43
And I think it starts to show some really interesting data points.
04:46
I'm going to start here with the second bullet point.
04:48
Customer traffic slows sharply after a surge in Q2.
04:52
Customer traffic to car dealerships declined significantly in Q3.
04:56
The index dropped from 37 to 33 with franchise dealers falling from 50 to 43.
05:02
A statistically significant decrease for independent dealers.
05:05
The overall traffic score remains weak, shifting directly from 32 to 30 this quarter.
05:09
That's at the same exact time, Dad, that we are finally starting to see
05:13
the impact of tariffs.
05:14
This is new car average trends, actually average listing prices.
05:18
It is starting to go a little, I don't know, hyperbolic.
05:21
The scale here is influencing that a little bit.
05:25
But these are your recent trends in online advertised prices for new cars.
05:31
New car prices going up, which you and I seem to talk about every single freaking day.
05:36
And then there's new data showing customer traffic starting to decline at dealerships.
05:41
I think that's a recipe for broken, correct?
05:44
Yeah. And then I think if you add in what's going on with the economy,
05:48
and I don't know that the private sector added 22,000 jobs in August.
05:55
Yeah. That's a recipe for a broken market because there's more joblessness.
06:01
There's less jobs available.
06:05
Interest rates are up.
06:08
What could be better?
06:11
I mean, profitability weakens as costs remain elevated.
06:14
That's another thing that'll drive some brokenness in the car market.
06:17
Dealer profitability declined in Q3.
06:20
As inventory is actually increasing back up and price pressure intensifies,
06:25
you just read the bold parts of the bulleted items here,
06:28
and it starts to build a pretty compelling case for why things don't look pretty
06:32
for the remainder of this year for the car market.
06:34
Well, I think when you look at that, and if you're in the business, you say to yourself,
06:40
well, everything's kind of sort of stacked against us.
06:43
These are not the trends that you want to see in any business.
06:48
You don't want to see inventory grow.
06:50
You don't want to see foot traffic customers coming in decline.
06:55
You don't want to see prices continually going up.
06:59
You don't want to see interest rates for financing
07:02
those prices that have gone up to also be going up.
07:06
And you don't want to see that, well, because there's so much pressure
07:10
that you now have to lower your price in an effort to try and sell this.
07:14
This is not a recipe for success and growth that most businesses are looking for.
07:22
I mean, if you were to pull most businesses, what's important to them?
07:27
Well, we want to grow our traffic.
07:29
We want to grow our profit margin.
07:32
We want it to be inexpensive for people to be able to afford to come in
07:36
and buy our stuff if they have to finance it.
07:39
And we want as many people as possible to be working and have the capability of affording this stuff.
07:48
We're headed down a path with this sentiment that indicates everything that you wish to see
07:57
are not any of the things that we're seeing at the moment.
08:00
So, yeah, I would suggest that the indicators are not good for a healthy car market.
08:10
Maybe they're good for that 15% of the population out there that can buy for the rest of us.
08:17
I just agree a little bit, Deb, because I think actually when we say it's not good for the
08:20
industry, that typically means it's going to become good for consumers.
08:23
Because the more the industry suffers, the more they have to ultimately pull levers
08:28
to drive down costs or drive down price to get people to buy cars.
08:31
You're the guy who went viral six years ago now for what happens to unsold new cars.
08:37
There is no such thing as an unsold new car.
08:39
I get that, but I think the problem that exists is that even if they have to pull
08:51
the levers of lowering prices at the dealership in order to move the metal.
08:57
They are still only going to be appealing to 13 to 15% of potential buyers out there.
09:04
The vast majority of people are not and do not feel as if they can participate or be in the
09:11
market for a new car at the price points they're at.
09:15
Even if there was some type of decline in pricing, we just once again broke the
09:22
$50,000 barrier for average asking prices.
09:28
Well, in order to get some of the 85% of the population out there interested in buying cars
09:38
again, I think you would have to drop the price significantly below $50,000 in order
09:44
to get those people to come in.
09:46
And what would that magical number be in my mind to get people?
09:52
Well, they ain't dropping $50,000 vehicles to $40,000 in order to move them.
09:58
That we're not going to see.
10:00
Maybe they'll drop them to $45,000 and the people who could already afford to buy the car
10:06
are going to say to themselves, well, it's too good of a deal to pass up so we'll buy one.
10:10
But the rest of us, the absolute rest of us are still sitting on the sidelines because
10:17
the prices are too high, regardless of the pressures that they feel.
10:22
That being said, there are going to be some opportunities, I think, for those brands
10:27
that haven't oversupplied.
10:29
We even just looked at most recently, month over, excuse me, year-over-year sales totals.
10:33
And really the only brand that excelled beyond belief is Toyota.
10:36
We're going to give you a little bit, but I mean, we saw a lot of the Japanese
10:39
automakers struggle.
10:40
Mazda, for example.
10:41
So I do think in a broken car market, the pressure is not on the consumer to step
10:46
The pressure is on the automakers, pressure is on the business.
10:48
If you're going to have to sell more, you would not be surprised if Mazda comes
10:51
with big incentives, for example, because they need to pick up sale.
10:53
Subaru is another example of a manufacturer whose growth has stalled out.
10:58
And again, what are they going to do?
10:59
They're going to lower the prices.
11:00
But I do agree with your broader sentiment that in a lot of ways,
11:03
the car market really, really, really is broken when you start to look
11:06
at the latest data we have access to.
11:08
Well, and I didn't read the article.
11:11
I only saw the headline briefly that we're about to...
11:15
We've come to an agreement with the Japanese and which will ultimately lower tariffs
11:23
on Japanese imported vehicles.
11:26
I didn't get to read the article.
11:29
I just briefly saw that as a headline.
11:35
Is it going to reduce the tariff from 15% to 10%?
11:41
But either way, if the tariff is higher than what it was at the start of the year,
11:49
then that means prices are going to be more than what they were at the start of the year.
11:54
And even that minor help might not be enough for some of these brands
12:03
to be able to get back what they've lost in the way of sales
12:08
and what they've lost in added costs to bring those vehicles into the country.
12:13
Yeah, what they've lost in pricing power.
12:14
Let's come here up to the chat and then we're going to switch gears from James.
12:17
What can you do on negotiating when you're building to order a truck?
12:21
Now, Dad, I want you to answer this.
12:22
Obviously, that being said, I want to remind everyone,
12:25
not only can you get great information, but it also helps us when you Google search things
12:29
that put car edge at the end, how to factory order a car, space car edge,
12:34
our how to factory order a car in 2025 guide pops right up.
12:37
Dad, I'd love and even the AI overview here.
12:40
I'll click on this.
12:41
We'll take a peek at it.
12:41
But Dad, I'd love your cake on this if you don't mind.
12:45
You negotiate the price of an ordered car the same way you would as if the car
12:52
were sitting on the lot.
12:54
There are certain benefits to the dealer when you order a car.
12:59
One of the benefits is that typically you're going to pick up that new car
13:03
within 72 hours of it having hit the dealership.
13:08
Well, guess what they won't have?
13:11
They won't have any floor plan costs associated with that vehicle.
13:15
What are floor plan costs?
13:16
That's the interest rate that the bank charges them when the bank buys the car
13:21
on behalf of the dealership because the dealership's financing it.
13:25
And so the floor plan charges the interest that the dealer pays
13:31
while that vehicle's sitting on the lot waiting to be sold.
13:34
Well, if it's only on the lot three days, there ain't no interest
13:37
that's going to be collected.
13:40
Every manufacturer pays their dealers floor plan assistance to help
13:46
cover the cost of financing their inventory on the lot.
13:51
So what does that mean for the dealer?
13:53
Well, suddenly floor plan assistance on an ordered car just becomes pure profit.
14:00
On top of the holdback, on top of everything else.
14:03
So you can negotiate an order just like it was sitting on the ground.
14:09
Okay, negotiate your discount and negotiate it in a manner that says
14:16
we've agreed upon this price, whatever that price is.
14:19
And I am entitled to whatever customer incentives might be available
14:26
from the manufacturer at the time that I take delivery.
14:31
That's how you do it.
14:32
Hopefully that's helpful.
14:33
Matthew coming here to your kind contribution and then another story.
14:39
Did my under script signature on the German?
14:43
I don't even know that word.
14:44
Yesterday for the Cayman GTS,
14:46
stick shift lessons available in Leipzig on October 3rd.
14:49
I mean, that could be interesting to me.
14:52
You know, and you've recently said to me,
14:54
I am so sick and tired of traveling.
14:57
But, you know, if you get to learn how to drive a stick on a Cayman GTS in Germany during October,
15:08
that's probably not the best time to learn how to drive a stick during October Fest,
15:13
but it could make for a hell of a Halloween, you know.
15:18
So I don't, you just might have to find out from Matthew where he's going to be
15:23
and make arrangements to fly over there.
15:25
And, you know, I'll have to be the cameraman.
15:28
So I'll have to fly over to and record for history's sake.
15:35
One more comment here and then a new story from Gemstar.
15:37
AI is going to kill everything and replace people.
15:40
You won't be able to negotiate with the dealer AI.
15:42
Keep that in mind for future reference.
15:44
So a couple of things I disagree.
15:45
I think AI is going to supplement and help people.
15:47
I still think human beings are going to be involved in pretty much everything.
15:51
So that's my personal opinion.
15:52
And as dealers bring AI salespeople, AI negotiators to their stores,
15:57
remember folks, caredge.com slash AI, we are the ones building the AI agents that you can use
16:04
so that you can have your AI agent contact dealers negotiate on your behalf.
16:08
Every single day our team is making this product even better.
16:11
We have had so many success stories.
16:13
Now 2,000 people are using the AI negotiator to get them their next car.
16:17
We've had tons of success stories.
16:19
Really awesome to see.
16:20
So go to caredge.com slash AI and then obviously within your caredge dashboard,
16:26
you'll now have access to the vehicles that your AI agent is negotiating on your behalf.
16:31
So you can see here, I've kind of got this running in real time.
16:34
I haven't reached out 19 days ago.
16:37
My AI was going back and forth with this particular dealership seven times getting me
16:41
and out the door quote right here.
16:42
So please, folks, it's not all dooming bloom.
16:45
I think there's actually a bright spot there.
16:49
I'm pretty sure there's a bright spot.
16:53
Hopefully what our team is developing will make your life easier moving forward in the future.
17:01
And even if it's our AI agent fighting against the dealership's AI agent,
17:08
we think we're going to build a better AI agent.
17:11
And he's going to be smarter, bigger, stronger, faster.
17:14
And he's going to get you the best deal that you possibly he
17:17
or she depending upon how you want to name your agent.
17:22
You can you get to name your agent.
17:24
Anyway, all right, let's let's keep it moving here.
17:26
Matthew, thank you for this as well.
17:27
Ray, it's fall colors in the Pyrenees with a yellow car.
17:30
Okay. Yeah, now put me in your put me in your front, man.
17:34
I want to be in your front.
17:35
That's a weird sentence.
17:37
All right, dad, let's go this direction.
17:39
We talked a little bit yesterday about,
17:41
I mean, it was yesterday or the day before EVs in the United States of America.
17:44
We're just going to start for a second here and then we'll move on.
17:47
We are being laying off 200 workers,
17:48
joins General Motors and VW and EV pullback from tax credit repeal.
17:53
Writing's on the wall.
17:54
This is another kind of a proof point that the car market's broken to a degree.
18:00
And you know, part of it is government inflicted.
18:04
The part of it is, you know, the group think here in America is, well,
18:11
you know, we're Americans.
18:12
You can't tell us what we're going to buy, what we should drive.
18:16
You don't have the right to tell us that.
18:18
And so some of it is just part of Americans'
18:22
rebellious attitude.
18:25
So there's the situation with EVs,
18:30
especially with the tax credits going away,
18:32
where that $7,500 could make or break a car deal.
18:38
And once that goes away, the end of this month,
18:42
yeah, you know, I think Rivian and everybody else in the EV space is thinking that,
18:48
you know, it's going to have a significant negative impact on EV sales moving forward.
18:57
And so they're trying the plan for it.
19:00
And let's face it, many of the manufacturers have pivoted anyhow,
19:05
because even though sales for EVs are up and sales continue to go up slightly,
19:14
it is nowhere near the rate or the pace that every one of these manufacturers
19:21
thought it was going to be.
19:22
And so the writing's on the wall for them now that it isn't going to happen
19:26
as quickly as they thought it would.
19:28
And they're all pivoting back to ICE and hybrid vehicles
19:32
to carry them through until if and when it ever does take off the way they thought it would.
19:37
Wouldn't be surprised if we see automakers, more EV automakers go bankrupt
19:41
because we saw a lot of that happen years ago.
19:44
Lordstown comes to mind, or many others.
19:46
So it'll be interesting to see what happens there.
19:49
I don't know about you, but when I'm using AI for my business,
19:52
I don't need it to tell me what to do.
19:55
I know what I want.
19:56
I just need help making it happen.
19:58
With Wix, I finally have an AI tool that gets things done
20:03
I just have to describe the type of website I need and it's ready.
20:08
I can even ask it to manage my inventory, plan my next marking campaign,
20:12
or help out my customers.
20:14
Wix gives me AI wherever I need it.
20:16
Try it out at Wix.com.
20:32
The new year brings new health goals and wealth goals.
20:54
Protecting your identity is an important step.
20:56
Your info is in endless places that could expose you to identity theft,
21:00
leading to lost funds.
21:01
LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second.
21:04
If your identity is stolen,
21:06
our restoration specialists will fix it,
21:08
guaranteed, or your money back.
21:10
Resolve to make identity health and wealth
21:12
part of your new year's goals with LifeLock.
21:15
Save up to 40% your first year.
21:17
Visit lifelock.com slash special offer.
21:20
Matthew, keep on us busy here.
21:21
Appreciate you, Matthew.
21:22
Ray, you can watch Zach free climb in the Pyrenees.
21:29
Zach is not free climbing anything.
21:33
I don't want anybody to take this wrong,
21:35
but from what I understand about when you rock climb,
21:38
there's a person below that is holding on
21:40
to the other end of the road for you.
21:42
That's your belayer.
21:49
The good belayers typically weigh equal to
21:53
or greater than the person climbing.
21:57
And here's my wish for when you climb,
22:01
that you have hired a retired sumo wrestler from Japan
22:06
to be your belayer and hold on to the other end of the rope.
22:10
So if you fall, you ain't really going anywhere.
22:15
We've got a lot of really, you've got to be kidding me,
22:18
like stories that we're going to turn our attention to
22:20
in a second, but before we do want to pull this up from Scott,
22:23
your AI tool is not so easy to use a responsive
22:25
in my personal experience.
22:27
And Scott really appreciate that.
22:28
I put a note in the chat.
22:29
If you can email me directly, Zach at caredge.com.
22:32
We're working every day to make it better.
22:33
So we'd really love and appreciate
22:35
to get the chance to talk to you and learn more.
22:37
And then from Labrador country, AI is awesome.
22:40
As my negotiator, my wife and I came home
22:42
with a used Tahoe last night in AI.
22:44
I got a $1,700 knocked off the price.
22:46
So guys, this is a brand new product,
22:48
brand new experience.
22:49
We think it's going to be really compelling.
22:51
The least we can do is be transparent up front.
22:55
Doesn't work great.
22:56
We want to hear it.
22:56
We want to get better.
22:57
So appreciate everyone that's supporting us as we do it.
23:01
That being said, pops.
23:03
Dealership owner salesperson charged
23:05
an alleged exotic vehicle fraud scheme.
23:07
Let's start here with the crazy news stories of the day.
23:12
Yeah, what happened?
23:15
Well, let's start with how I sent this to you
23:19
in my comment where the profits are so much greater
23:23
when you sell non-existent cars.
23:25
You just collect the money and the people never get the cars.
23:28
And well, this is a perfect example of an exotic car dealer
23:32
in the Jacksonville area who sold cars.
23:37
Never with people with cars.
23:39
And when people showed up at the dealership to get the cars,
23:44
dealership wasn't open.
23:46
The dealership had closed down.
23:48
They hadn't run off with your money.
23:50
There was one guy who wired the dealership $235,000 for 2019 Corvette ZR1,
24:00
got to the dealership, tried several times to track down the owner and the salesperson.
24:06
Low and behold, couldn't find them anywhere.
24:11
So if you want to be extremely profitable in retail automotive,
24:19
sell things that don't exist.
24:21
Just collect the money.
24:22
Make sure you collect enough money so that you can run like hell before anybody catches you
24:27
because these guys, as bright as they were, well, they got caught.
24:34
And Dad, if I'm not mistaken, the same owner is currently being sued by Stalantis.
24:40
Because they have $3.7 million that they owe Stalantis because they're out of trust
24:45
for their football.
24:46
Yes, from when he had Alfa Romeo of Albany.
24:51
Now, first of all, okay, I don't know what Stalantis was thinking when they said to themselves,
24:57
oh my God, we must have an Alfa Romeo dealership in Albany, New York.
25:02
Because God knows, that would be like the Alfa Romeo capital of the world.
25:08
Everybody in Albany wants an Alfa Romeo.
25:12
So that was number one.
25:15
Somebody at Stalantis said, yeah, we got to have a dealership there.
25:19
And then number two, once they approved the dealership, and apparently this guy's a real
25:24
gem, in my opinion, apparently, they fronted him a whole bunch of money in floor planning
25:35
so that he could bring in these overpriced, unwanted Alpha Romeos.
25:41
And then he kind of took off with the money.
25:44
Don't worry about it.
25:45
It's like, here's how he makes his money.
25:48
He, in this case, he brought the cars in, and he didn't really pay for them.
25:54
All right, so we're going down this path of bad actors in the car business.
25:58
Here's another view.
26:00
Former Texas Mitsubishi dealership, General Manager, accused of embezzlement.
26:04
Dad, this one's another story that little Midland, Texas, the GM of Midland Mitsubishi
26:09
sold between $30,000 and $150,000.
26:13
What happened here?
26:14
Well, nothing good.
26:19
He inflated sales numbers so that he could pay himself more, so that he could say that
26:23
the dealership made more than it did.
26:26
He had the company write checks to him.
26:31
When you read deep into the article, it was actually much more than between $15,000
26:40
Apparently, it was an absentee owner.
26:43
And sometimes owners don't look at the books as closely as they should.
26:48
And so for a number of years, he was treating himself pretty good.
26:53
He was doing good as the General Manager of a Mitsubishi dealership.
26:58
The only thing missing in this story as well probably should have been Mitsubishi
27:02
of Albany, New York could have been a dual point, could have been Mitsubishi Alfa Romeo,
27:11
where everyone wants to shop.
27:13
Well, of course, because it's the automotive capital of the world for any type of imported
27:22
The industry is full of a lot of characters, some good, a lot, not so good.
27:33
I mean, I've told you this story when I was at Admiral Nissan.
27:37
I had check signing authority.
27:41
I wasn't a member of the family, but I had check signing authority.
27:46
And our comptroller created accounts payable for things, and he would write a check,
27:55
and he would sign my name to it, and then he would cash those checks on behalf of those
28:04
non-existent accounts.
28:08
We caught him, thankfully, the people I worked for understood.
28:13
They could look at my, they knew my signature, was all over everything in the dealership,
28:17
didn't look anything like what was on the checks.
28:20
You know, it just, there's just a lot of characters, and there has to be a lot of checks
28:26
and balances in the dealership.
28:28
I worked for a gentleman that literally, he checked every deal that went through his
28:40
Yes, the owner did.
28:41
He didn't own just like one dealership.
28:43
It was seven or eight, and he checked every deal.
28:46
He went through every deal packet.
28:48
He looked at every document and every, I mean, I used to get emails in regards to deals.
28:55
What happened on this deal?
28:57
Why did we do this on that deal?
28:59
And the damn emails were time stamped 4.35 a.m.
29:03
Okay, he didn't need a lot of sleep, okay, and he checked everything.
29:10
So it was, it would have been hard for anybody to be pulling the wool over his eyes.
29:18
And that's, you have to be, oh, I think I mentioned this to you at one point
29:24
when you started this, that you have to look at your accounts payable every month.
29:29
You have to know who you're paying, how much you're paying them,
29:34
why you're paying them that much.
29:36
Are you getting what you're supposed to be getting?
29:39
And this gentleman, I mean, he checked every deal.
29:44
It just, it sets the tone for how you're going to do business.
29:49
And, you know, there's just, I mean, even with that, I mean, we had a finance guy
29:57
at our mini dealership who took a cash deposit from a customer, gave him a receipt on the back of
30:05
his business card, okay, and it was for several thousand dollars.
30:11
The FNI manager said, you know, you don't mind I'm going to run out and grab a bite to eat.
30:17
He never came back.
30:19
Okay, he just took the money, never came back.
30:22
I mean, you know, these kind of things happen and it's unfortunate.
30:29
There are, as I say, a lot of characters in the car business.
30:34
Some that are always looking for ways to make money in illegitimate ways.
30:41
And many of them have figured it out and many of them have gotten caught.
30:47
There's basically two types of people that do this.
30:50
Those have gotten caught and those who will be getting caught.
30:55
You know, because typically you end up getting caught at some point,
30:58
might take five, six, seven, eight years, but at some point you're going to get caught.
31:03
So, you know, I guess for some of these folks, they live it up while they can and that's what it is.
31:10
It is interesting, you know, Automotive News is the industry publication and
31:14
two stories about fraud front and center today, and it's not the first time we've
31:18
talked about that. So, you know, it is such a highly considered and high dollar amount
31:22
transaction. There's so many moving pieces at the dealership.
31:24
There are lots of opportunities for fraud.
31:26
It's a bummer, but fortunately, fortunately, things get rectified.
31:30
A friendly reminder again, folks, caredge.com, buy a car without the headache.
31:34
We are here to serve you. Our customers are you, not the dealers.
31:39
We are your best friend for car buying with car edge insights or our car buying services
31:43
can get 20% off for another 48 hours.
31:45
So, please take advantage of that back at caredge.com from Rich earlier in the show.
31:51
Is there any truth? Thank you, Rich.
31:53
Is there any truth to the rumor that Zach replaced Ray with AI weeks ago?
31:58
What do you think about that, Pops?
32:03
Oh, yeah, I think my circuits blown.
32:08
There you go, folks. My dad is an AI. That is his AI impersonation.
32:13
Okay, let's end the show on this story, Dad. Tesla offers unprecedented one trillion
32:21
dollar pay package to CEO Elon Musk. I'm just going to get off the screen.
32:27
Don't get off the screen because I didn't read the article. I just know that there's
32:33
some real difficult objectives for him to hit to be able to earn that trillion dollars.
32:41
The only thing I will say is, if there is a company out there that thinks that any employee
32:48
is ultimately worth a trillion dollars, every one of those members of that company needs
32:54
to have their heads examined. Okay? Nobody, I'm sorry, in my opinion, ain't nobody out there worth
33:01
a trillion bucks. How much money do you have to pay somebody that keeps them interested
33:07
in coming to work and showing up every day? That is just like corporate malfeasance and
33:13
corporate BS. And by the way, it makes a great headline. And Kent Daigle in here says,
33:25
Elon is worth double that. No, he's not. Nobody's worth that. Nobody is worth that.
33:31
I like your approach. It's not an Elon Musk thing. It's not a Ray Sheffska thing. It's like,
33:37
just literally within any organization, here's what I'm hearing you say is,
33:40
no one's worth that. No one's that special. And I agree with you, Dad, like, I don't know.
33:46
That's just, that's just wrong. Yeah. No one is. I mean, are there bright people in the world
33:53
that need to be compensated? Yeah, but nobody needs to be compensated a trillion trillion dollars.
33:59
I mean, come on. So no, I'm sorry, I just, maybe I just think that there's better ways
34:09
to spend a trillion dollars. Galen Hertz, Dad, would you spend a trill? Oh, my God.
34:14
Well, you know, I spent a trill. If they win another Super Bowl, then for sure, yeah,
34:20
blow up the cap space that the Eagles might have. Hell, do it. Do it. Why don't we just
34:25
do away with hard caps in all sports? Just whatever them, whatever those guys are worth,
34:33
just pay them. It's like Devin Booker on the Suns, our favorite team,
34:42
signed a two year contract extension, okay, for $150 million. Now, hear me out for a second.
34:51
I'm hearing there's 82 games in an NBA schedule, 82 games. Okay, he's going to get paid $75 million
35:04
for playing 82 games. At some point, somebody is going to be paid more. And you cannot tell me,
35:14
regardless of how good a basketball player they are, or athlete they are, that anybody
35:20
is worth a million dollars for every game that they play. How is that, how does that make any sense?
35:28
Okay, you know, your doctor can make a lot of money. But they make a million dollars for every
35:36
operation, okay? I mean, imagine getting, yeah, here's a million bucks, go see a patient. It
35:44
that is just so asinine. Better ways to spend our money. What if you got paid a million bucks for
35:51
every car ads live show you did? I'd be right up there with Elon. I'm not worth that. Hell,
36:00
based on what you pay me, you don't think I'm worth anywhere near that.
36:06
I love your approach though, like, yeah, no. And to be clear, we see this to a degree already
36:11
with like, what was Jim Farley's comp like 20 million 30 million, 20 million, like 28 million
36:17
dollars, 27 million dollars. And he runs a company that has the most, most recalls in human history
36:25
in a year. Okay. And his car, he's not worth 27 million dollars. Oh, no, the amount of money,
36:33
so many of these high executives get paid and some of these athletes get paid,
36:39
is absolutely ridiculous. Nobody's skill set is worth, if Elon's skill set is worth a trillion
36:48
dollars, then I don't know, just between you, me and the lamppost, well, what would have Albert
36:54
Einstein's brain have been worth with what he was able to do? Where's Stephen Hawkins?
37:00
I mean, it's, it's... I think Newton, dad, let's go, let's keep going back. Yeah.
37:05
I mean, seriously, it just, there, I don't know, other than it's a free market. I don't know how
37:13
you justify it. But what is what conceivably can be the justification? Well, you know,
37:22
your journal's really well. Okay, great. Oh, he's got a great, he's got a great mid game. Oh,
37:28
my God. You know, this is just, it's, it's lunacy that, that we, that we pay people what we pay them,
37:38
especially in entertainment and sports. But in industry, I mean, the gentleman that had been
37:47
running Lucid for years, what was his name? Jim Rawlinson or John Rawlinson? That company
37:54
lost billions upon billions upon billions of dollars year in and year out. And one of those years
38:01
when they were losing like 3.2 billion, his, his income was $279 million. Well, my God, imagine
38:11
what they would have had to pay them if they actually made money. Okay, here's what you get
38:16
for losing 3 billion. But we'll quadruple that if you make a, if you make a dollar in profit
38:23
this year. I mean, it is just absolutely ridiculous. All right, folks, we're going to call it a show.
38:31
Tune in on Monday for more Car Edge Life. We appreciate everyone joining us.
38:35
That is going to be in DC starting Wednesday's show, I guess? Yes, Wednesday's show. I come down
38:41
Tuesday afternoon. The good news is that my new sliding doors so that I don't know what we
38:47
will have good, good, what am I trying to say? I have less air infiltration with my new sliding
38:56
glass doors and they're going to be installed on Wednesday and Thursday. Yep, so you're going
39:01
to be here in DC with me? Yes, I'm going to be in DC so that they can install the doors and
39:07
I can still do the live show so that you can overpay me. And but I'll do it from DC.
39:14
So yes, I'll be, I'll be down there Tuesday afternoon. I get in for something.
39:20
Can't wait, Pops. All right, folks. We'll enjoy the upcoming weekend. Beautiful weather here on
39:23
the East Coast. I spent some time outdoors. That's our plan, at least my plan. Hopefully you do
39:28
the same as well, Dad. And yeah, we'll catch you back here on Monday. Absolutely. Have a
39:32
great weekend, everybody. We'll see you all back here at noon Eastern Monday.
39:39
This winter, know what your vehicle needs before it needs it.
39:42
Visit your Buick Certified Service Center and ask for a multi-point vehicle inspection
39:46
and take advantage of stackable rebates. See dealer for complete details.
39:50
Multi-point vehicle inspections vary by participating dealer.
39:54
Did you know Tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean and cold water?
39:59
Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it.
40:02
Even in cold. Butter? Yep. Chocolate ice cream? Sure thing.
40:07
Barbecue sauce? Tide's got you covered. You don't need to use warm water.
40:13
Additionally, Tide pods let you confidently fight tough stains with new cold-zimed technology.
40:18
Just remember, if it's got to be clean, it's got to be tied.
40:23
If you liked the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe.
40:28
It really does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening.