This is why you need the "My Car Guru Guidebook", how to get it and why I offer it for FREE

Hey, folks, Lenny Lawson here, the Car Guru.

I've got a question for you this morning.

Are you part of the 37% of U.S. adults who report being in the market, actively seeking

to buy a new vehicle, or are you in the 63% who are not?

Well, this podcast slash radio program is for both groups, because those who are in the market

need the Car Guru guidebook more than just about anybody else does, because the guidebook will

save you thousands of dollars when you're negotiating for a new vehicle, or a new used

vehicle, whatever the case may be. You might be like the lady that sent me a text message

this past weekend trying to buy a 2016 Honda CR-V somewhere in this country.

Let's see, where was she? Well, it doesn't say where she is. She has the

same area code as I do, but I don't recognize the town. She wanted to know what the value was,

or what I thought she should pay for this particular Honda CR-V. So I looked it up,

pretty high mileage vehicle, and when I think about the CR-V, I think about, well, when I think

about the CR-V and the transmission that it has in it, I'm thinking that about 150,000 miles,

you're right there on the edge of potential failure. The chances go dramatically up when you get in

excessive mileage on any vehicle with a CVT if it was not properly maintained, and most people

don't maintain their vehicles. I mean their transmissions. You know, they think about changing

the oil. Do they ever think about changing some of the other fluids, the multiple different fluids

that are in different components in their vehicle? Usually not. A CVT can last a really long time,

but most of them don't, and there's multiple reasons for that. We won't get into the

engineering specifics, but just suffice to say that you are asking for trouble if you buy a vehicle

with a CVT transmission after 150,000 miles. So I encouraged her to kind of steer clear of it,

gave her a price range, and she said her quote, oh my goodness, thank you, Lenny, for your podcast.

As a female, it can be intimidating to car shop, but your guidance made me feel more confident.

That's what I want, folks. I want you, if you're part of the 37%, I want you to do the proper

research, and when you go into the dealership, I want you to feel comfortable and armed,

not physically, but mentally armed to do combat, because that's what it is. You're fighting to

keep as many dollars in your pocket as possible, and the other guys are trying to extract as

much as possible. Now, a lot of them do it, and as we've talked about many times in shady ways.

They tried it with her. I'm quoting, they even brought out the Foursquare page just like you said

they would. I don't know if you remember, but the Foursquare page, it is a negotiating tool.

It is a blank piece of paper with a, that's been divided into four sections, and they put

the selling price in one box. They put the trade value or what they're willing to pay you for your

trade in another box. They put a down payment in the lower left box, and then they put the payment,

or multiple payment options in the right lower hand box, and none of those numbers have anything

to do with each other. That's how shady dealers get you to pay too much for a car, and get

you to focus on what most people focus on, which is the wrong thing, which is the monthly

payment. I continue. I was able to say that that is no interest to me. I love that. You know,

somebody lays a Foursquare. That's no interest to me. Take it away. You know, that's a good

approach, I guess. There were other things that they tried, and because my husband and I listened

to you, I was able to stand my ground. It was empowering. See, that's just so wonderful.

Don't you think that I can do this little radio show slash podcast and empower

people to make good buying decisions? Now, if you're part of the 63%, you're not even thinking

about buying a car. Maybe you just bought one. Maybe you've had it just a year or two. You

like it. You're happy with it. The other side of this program is how to deal with the other

issues that will come up during your car life. And that's when you have maintenance that needs to be

done, repairs that need to be made, hopefully done right the first time, or you may be in an accident

and you want to know how to choose a body shop and what to look for. You know, when the job is

supposedly done, how to deal with your insurance company, all that's in the guidebook. So how do

you get it? Just send me a text with your email address to 423-552-2020 and I'll send you a PDF

of the guidebook. What's a PDF? Well, if you just ask that question, then you need a copy

of the guidebook mailed to you. I'll pay the postage, just send me your name and address,

and I'll print one out for you. It's 26 pages long, I believe, and I'll fold it up and

put it in the envelope and send it to you. Isn't that nice? I'm willing to go that extra mile for

those of you who are still using a flip phone or no phone. Well, except maybe your home phone.

And so that's okay. That's a lot of us out there. We just don't really need the technology.

We were fine for the previous centuries and so that's just the way we're going to continue

to live our lives. So I'll send you the guidebook because you need it. And it's essential reading.

And hopefully, if you have any suggestions, you will send them to me as well. Lenny,

tell us about this. Tell me how to handle this particular situation. Love the guidebook,

but you left out this particular area. We can get more technical. I can add pages and pages

to the guidebook, which will hopefully be helpful to answering your questions. But

if you have that, you do have ammunition. And if you do listen to this podcast,

refer it to somebody else. Just send a copy to somebody that you know.

Those of you who understand technology know how to forward a podcast to a friend.

So do that because everybody needs to listen. There are, I think, 450 episodes

in the podcast library of My Car Guru. I know that's hard to believe. That's a lot of talking.

How can you talk that much about cars? Well, as you know, it's not always just about cars.

So I'll be back in just one minute.

You know, for many years, I have taught hundreds of salespeople

how to be more successful selling in general, but selling vehicles and also negotiating.

And do I teach them how to negotiate from a consumer standpoint? No. What I do teach them

is how consumers think and how they respond to certain things that you say.

And one of the big things in the car business, or any type of negotiation from that standpoint,

when anybody's selling anything, is that it's the job of the business to give you a price.

It's not your job to just throw out offers. You know, the copy machine salesperson doesn't

show up at your door, demonstrate a copy machine and say, what would you give? No.

He gives you a price. But what a lot of dealers do, especially the shady ones,

is before you even come in the dealership, you're looking at, I don't know, a Hyundai or hopefully

not, but a key, well, hopefully not that either, but probably a Honda or a Toyota or Chevrolet or

a Ford, whatever. And the salesperson real early on said, what kind of monthly payment

are you looking for? Boy, that's just, that's your sign right there. That should get your attention.

You know, if you were a peacock at that moment, that's when you open up your tail.

So that salesperson knows for sure, you're not to be messed around with.

You know, that I think that peacock tail is designed to do two things, intimidate competitors

and also to maybe get a nice female peacock, you know, get noticed. Well,

you're not trying to do that with a salesperson. At that point, you're warning him,

I'm not playing that game. What'd you do when he asked you that question? You said,

I don't know, payment really is important to me. I just want a great price on this

particular vehicle. And he might at that point say, well, you mean you're not going

to finance it? Sir, that's not an issue right now. Do you want to give me a,

tell me all about the vehicle and then give me a price on it? I think that would be appropriate

since I'm here to get a price. You know, I don't, no, I don't care what the monthly payment is.

Okay. You know, most people do though. I do. I mean, if many years ago,

mostly I pay cash for stuff now, but you know, when I was younger and coming up through

business and in my thirties and forties and early fifties,

yeah, it mattered because I financed stuff. I bought my first tractor I bought. I financed it.

They had a really good interest rate, but you know, I couldn't pay for it. I couldn't

pull out. I don't remember how much it was. It was pretty much pretty close to 20,000 with

the Bush hog and the front loader and all that stuff. But I didn't want to know what

the payment was, but not until I was ready. I wanted a good price on it first.

And so how do you get that? Well, you don't go throwing out offers.

You know, one of the things in my, one of my little essays is called negotiation 101. Now that's

not real creative. I understand. But 101 is typically the class number that you take.

Like if you're taking algebra, it's algebra 101. That's beginner's algebra.

So one of the first techniques or basically warnings in negotiation 101 is this,

never make an offer. That's not your job. You know, anytime a salesperson says to me,

well, just make an offer. I said, no, thank you. I want to hear your prices. I mean, if,

you know, you guys own the vehicle. I don't. You're trying to sell it. I'm not.

I just need to hear what you're willing to sell it for. That's it. And then we'll go from there.

We'll go to step number two. We'll hit Lenny's target number two and then target number three

and target number four. Who's Lenny? Don't, don't worry about that either. So if they say something

like, well, what will you give? Or what will you take for your trade in? You know, whatever it

is. No, and no, I'm not answering those questions. I'm being nice. I can say, no, thank you.

So let's say they finally do get you inside after you've driven the vehicle, very important,

taking on a nice long test drive, get the salesperson to tell you all about it.

Let me back up just a second. If let's say that you go on a nice test drive,

come back and you're asking the salesperson all kinds of questions about vehicles.

Like I've had a lot of questions lately about towing capacity. A lot of people buying

campers right now, you know, at the end of the season, and the deals are really good.

So people are calling me saying, you know, what type of vehicle do I need to buy to pull this camper?

You need information. If the salesperson doesn't have any information, it is okay to say, sir,

you know, I appreciate your effort and everything, but can you go maybe go get

somebody that knows a little bit more about this vehicle than you do? Now he may be slightly

offended. But if they want to sell you a car, they're going to get somebody out there that

knows what they're talking about because vehicles are very complicated. You may get

inside of a vehicle and you may be elderly like me and you sit down and they're going through all

this technology stuff on the dashboard and you say, hold on a minute. This is way too

complicated for me. I'll never figure out this. I don't like touch screens. You know,

it may totally turn you off, but you thought it was the best deal that you had seen.

You found it online. You know, you got some neighbors that got a vehicle like that.

You've seen them on the road. You really want one. But then you finally get inside and you

start trying to navigate all of these screens that the automakers are putting in these vehicles

and all of this technology and the salesperson is talking about three miles over your head.

And you just decide, rightfully so, it's too complicated. I don't need this kind of

complication when I'm driving. You know, I get confused sometimes when I'm backing up

or trying to hit a parking place. I can't hit a parking place anymore for,

I don't know whether it's my age or what the deal is, but I will, I will pull into the grocery

store and maybe go to Publix or whatever like we did this weekend. And I look back at my

parking job and I say, my goodness, I've totally lost it. I was so much better without all

of these cameras and all this assistance. You know, I'd rather just, you know, use my own senses

and mirrors like I used to. I was a really good Parker back in the old days. But yeah, you've

got to get them to explain everything about the vehicle because that might change your mind

totally about what vehicle that you buy. But then you're going inside. They present you

with a number. Again, it better be a breakdown showing taxes and everything that's included

in that number. If they throw out one of those four square things, you tell them, no, thank you.

Give me a printout, including all taxes, fees, whatever of what you are willing to sell this

vehicle to me for. Is that asking too much? I don't think so. So they do that. And, you know,

you don't know whether it's a good number or not. Or you do because you've done the research.

And the first thing you need to say is, no, I'm not paying that. So you need to go back

and get your manager to give me the best price that he can. Or I guess we're just going to have to

go to ABC Motors, which is their direct competitor. That's good leverage right there,

folks, threatened to leave because they're not hitting an acceptable number. Now,

what's the salesperson trained to do? He's going to say, well, what would you give?

Or what would you feel comfortable with? And your answer is, listen, you give me an acceptable price

and I'll buy it. And he may say, well, what would an acceptable price be? And I'm not trying to

be smart here, folks, but I would say an acceptable price is one that I will accept. So you go

back and try to get that. And you'll know. You'll know the instant. I think it's acceptable. How's

that? Is that fair? See, a lot of these dealerships have smart elix sales managers. They're sitting

behind a desk. They used to be salespeople. They used to work the floor. But see, they forgot

what it's like to work the floor. All they do is throw numbers out there and chew out

salespeople when they don't come back to the desk with an offer. And so your salesperson

is going to go back in there and say, boss, he's not going to throw out an offer. He wants me to

give him an acceptable price. And the sales manager is going to say, what is an acceptable price?

And he's going to say one that he accepts. And that sales manager is going to say,

man, never heard that one before. Okay, let's see what we can do. He may throw a number out

or he may come back. The salesperson may come back and say, he won't cut his price until

you make a counter offer. So at that point, you just tell the salesperson, well, that's not going

to happen. So I guess you can go back and tell him that he's not going to sell me a car. And we're

leaving because you have to remember this is not Walmart. All the cars aren't priced with

their final price. It's a negotiation thing. I mean, and if you go to a tractor dealership,

you know, any kind of RV dealer, you know, even use car lots, you know, I have people come to me

all the time trying to sell me stuff in the dealership equipment, like alignment machines and tire

balancers, I always negotiate with them and get it as cheaply as I can, even our computer system,

our main computer system that we use in a dealership, very, very expensive. We pay

thousands of dollars every month just to have this. And that was a very long negotiation.

I mean, it took like two weeks to get to a number that was acceptable to us. And the

problem with most consumers, they don't have the stamina for that. They don't want to negotiate

two weeks on a car deal. But I guarantee you, if you did, you'd get a better price.

You beat them down. They finally throw in the towel. We quit. It's yours. But that's just

this business. Like I say, it's not Walmart. And you can go ahead and hate the process.

And I don't blame you. It's not fun. But just like the lady that sent me the text,

you feel empowered. You can make it fun. You realize that it is a game. But it's a serious game

from the standpoint of the financial consequences of it. And so you got to make it fun. You got

to maintain a positive attitude. You don't have to be mean and hateful. You can talk just

like I'm talking right now. You just matter of fact about it. You know, I'm not going to

make you an offer. And some of these dealerships, they've got somebody waiting to buy the product

if you don't buy it, and they don't care. They'll just blow you out because you won't play the game

their way. And they've got somebody else in line that will that will play the game. They're a

payment buyer. They don't listen to my car guru. They don't have a copy of the guidebook. So

they fall prey to the sales tactics that generate tremendous incomes for the salesperson,

the sales manager, and the finance manager in the dealership and ultimately the dealer.

And their low ethical standards allow them to sleep at night, if you can imagine. Okay,

I'll take my last break. I'll be back here in just a minute.

Okay, so I'm headed to Knoxville this morning in my 2024 Porsche 911T.

Gonna get the oil changed. $2,500 is what it cost to get the oil changed on that vehicle.

That's somewhat of an exaggeration. The cost is right. That's what it cost.

But they do a lot more than just change the oil, supposedly. They check all kinds of things,

and they drain other fluids out. I haven't looked at the full list, but it's substantial.

And if you want to get it done like at the Jiffy Lube,

which I wouldn't ever dream of, would they even change the oil on a late model Porsche 911?

I don't know. They would probably put some cheap aftermarket filter that cost $2.58

and sell it to me for $18. They probably would put the correct oil in it. It's a mobile one.

But that's about all that they would do. Now, the problem with that, if I take my Porsche to Jiffy Lube

to have the oil changed, that's going to show up on the record. If I ever try to sell this Porsche

to somebody else, no, that's not going to work. One of the main reasons that you spend the

money to get your Porsche serviced at a Porsche dealership and done the right way

is for resell value. Because I know you're thinking I'm crazy right now to pay that much

for an oil change. I don't have any choice. It's a very expensive car, and if I want to maintain

the value of that car, that's what it costs to play in that game. Now, the reason that I can live

with that is because I'll get the money back when I sell it. I don't know when that will

be because right now I'm still in the honeymoon phase. I've had it a year and a half now.

Every time I get in it, the grins come out and let my wife's riding with me because she

doesn't like the way it rides. She doesn't like the way it sounds. She doesn't like sitting that

low. Now, don't get me wrong. She's easy to please, but she'd much rather be in a Ford

Expedition or my F-150. She just doesn't like sports cars and does not get it. But she loves

me and she knows that I do get it. And that's enough until she finds out that an oil change

costs $2,500. Okay. Thank you for listening to this edition of My Car Guru. If you're in the middle

of a car deal, that's kind of late to give me a call. I've done that many times. I'll never

forget about the call. The guys buying a Toyota Tacoma in Texas calls me right there in the

middle of the deal. Hey, Lenny, I'm at the dealership right now and they're wanting to know what I

want from my trade-in. What do I do? You know, is that kind of conversation? Easy to fix that.

Get a copy of the My Car Guru guidebook. Send me your email address to 423-552-2020

or email it to me at LennyLawson2020 at gmail.com. And I'll forward you a copy of the guidebook.

And other than that, if you're in the middle of something or you need some help for some

reason or another, something that I haven't talked about, I find that quite hard to believe

if you go back and listen to the podcast. But maybe I haven't covered it.

Send me a text. Ask me the question. You want evaluation on a used car? I did that

probably six times this past weekend for listeners. Send me the VIN number and a general

description of the vehicle, including what options it has, the miles, condition. And

I'll tell you what your trade-in's worth or what you should pay for a used car you're

thinking about buying. Okay, well, thanks for listening and I'll see you next time.

Honda Crv

Porsche 911

Ford Expedition

Ford F150

Toyota Tacoma

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