For some reason, we had numerous callers the past couple of weeks who were confused about all-wheel drive (AWD) and the benefits of it. I am a big fan of AWD personally and actually have said that I would never personally own a car without it. It seems like a good time to take a look at all-wheel drive systems. Read More
You make the deal on the car of your dreams, you sign the papers, you are about to get the keys and drive away, but there is one more stop…the customer satisfaction person. This is where you get THE TALK. You are going to hear about a survey you are going to get from the car manufacturer, and how important it is to fill it out with all good marks. In some dealerships, it is the salesperson who pleads-er, sorry-asks that you fill out the survey with top scores.
There are reasons why the survey is so important to dealerships. For the salesperson, it is often tied to his or her compensation, but almost always the bonus plan. For the dealership, impressive awards are at stake, which sets them apart in their market area, and often they too have bonuses tied to the survey scores. For a dealership, it can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars. Read More
Not a lot has changed in radio over the last 80 or so years, except for the addition of frequency modulation, or FM radio, that became popular in the late 1960s.
Now comes HD radio, which provides higher quality sound, more stations with the same amount of bandwidth, and extra information beamed straight to your car radio as a digital signal. Many assume HD stands for high definition, but iBiquity, the company that started HD radio in 2002, says it doesn’t stand for anything. Read More
Weekly on the Car Pro Show, we have a number of callers who identify themselves as senior citizens who are considering leasing for the first time.
I explain on the air that as we age, our mobility becomes more and more important and, frankly, precious. For many seniors, they have never given much thought to leasing a vehicle; many grew up in a time that this just wasn’t done. However, it should be considered, along with the purchase option. It is wise to look at both in-depth to make the Read More
We are big fans of Certified Pre-Owned vehicle programs when buying used. Car Pro Show host Jerry Reynolds recommends them all the time. Kia is now being recognized for its CPO program -- winning best in all three “Popular” categories in the annual IntelliChoice Certified Pre-Owned awards. In the first sweep since 2011, Kia received top honors in Best Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) Program, Best Used Cost of Ownership and Best CPO Warranty Program.
It’s the end of the year and as I tell my Car Pro Show listeners that means it’s the best time of year to buy a new vehicle. And that certainly holds true this year due to the unprecedented impacts of Covid-19 on the industry.
Automakers are scrambling to try to make up for lost sales early on in the pandemic when manufacturing facilities and many dealerships were forced to close.
So if you’re looking to buy a new vehicle by December 31, you’re going to find a lot of things coming Read More
We had a radio show caller last week who owned two homes and was trying to figure out the best place of the two to register a new vehicle. He did a lot of homework and found that there was a lot of difference in the insurance cost between his regular home and his second home in Florida, with the full coverage insurance in Florida being much cheaper. I pointed out to him that whatever he saved on insurance could easily be eaten up with dealership documentary fees in Florida, where dealers Read More
It’s the end of the year, and when you get to the dealership, things are hectic, especially with the incredible offers that are out there. No matter how busy a dealership is, one thing you don’t want to do is skip out on a test drive before your new vehicle. Car Pro dealerships are disinfecting vehicles prior to test drives. Plus, many will also bring a vehicle to you to test drive so you don’t have to visit a dealership in person - just one way they are addressing health concerns during Covid.
The lesson to be learned from not taking a test drive can be gained from a recent Car Pro Show caller who sought advice for a case of buyer’s remorse. She bought an SUV only to find out, it was not comfortable and it was too hard to get in and out of. Odds are, she took a short test drive and did not spend enough time in the car before buying it. It happens way too often. Read More
I have been talking on the Car Pro Radio show for years about December being a great time to buy a new car. In spite of that I hear from people who say: “I am going to buy a new car right after the first of the year.” Generally, this will cost you substantially more money than buying in December, let me explain why.
Each year at this time, I put out a list of the vehicles I reviewed that were the most impactful or left an impression on me. I take into consideration all the things I talk about on the Car Pro Radio show: Value, driving impressions, and overall impressions of the vehicle.
As with most of 2020, my video schedule was totally screwed up, although I continued to review vehicles even when I didn’t do a weekly video.
In the first quarter of the year, I was rained out for four of the twelve sessions. Then from March 25 through the end of May, I didn’t do videos due to Covid-19. I just didn’t want to put myself or my film crew in jeopardy.
When you visit one or more of our dealers in December, especially that last week of the month, a little patience and some preliminary work will speed things up for you.
Remember, live customers on the showroom floor take precedence over phone calls and emails. It will take longer than usual for someone to get back to you. This will work in your favor when you get to the dealership.
Be aware many of our dealers are closing on Christmas Eve.
I hear from listeners all the time who are looking forward to getting a new vehicle but dread the process of going through the financing process. Honestly, there is nothing to be concerned about if you understand what will happen once you get into the finance office. Knowledge is power, and below I will tell you what you can expect, and hopefully you won’t encounter any surprises.
Finance Departments
Beware: Like every profession, there are good dealers and bad dealers. Many people are taken advantage of in the finance department of dealerships. Over the years, I have seen it all, high-pressure tactics to purchase extended warranties, credit life, and disability insurance, GAP insurance, etc. I have also witnessed downright fraud. Bear in mind, most finance managers are paid on commission, based on what they sell. Read More
While shopping on Black Friday can be a stressful, tiring, and downright frightening thing to do, consumers will find some great deals on one of the biggest purchases they'll ever make: a new car.
This weekend, we have significant sale days back-to-back…Black Friday followed by the last weekend of the month, and Cyber Monday falling on the last day of November .
I recall from my days in the retail auto industry, we geared up for Black Friday and the weekend after, also. In the car business, when a lot of people are off work, you tend to be really busy. We also saw that while one spouse was at the mall, the other might be shopping for a car.
The incentives for November are ending on Monday November 30th. They remain aggressive across the board, especially remaining 2020 models. All the automakers stayed super aggressive on cars, trucks, and SUVs and seem to be upping rebates daily. Read More
I had a caller to my radio show Saturday, wanting to purchase a car for his 21-year old son who was in college. I asked him if he had considered leasing a new car for him, to which he said no and seemed very leery of leasing overall, primarily because he had never done it. He made the comment “after 3-years, you don’t own anything”. He is correct, but if you finance for five, six, or seven years, you don’t own anything after three years either. After a few minutes of chatting, he is going Read More
Sure, everybody wants the best price he or she can get on a car, right? I think often people assume that if they got the best possible price, they also got the best possible deal, but that is not always the case. As the man who trained me to sell cars many years ago always said: “there is no way a part-time customer can outsmart a full-time car salesman.”
The Problem With Being Hyper-Focused On PriceSome people love the idea of beating up a car dealership on price, getting them down to the Read More
As I have told you, new vehicle inventories are building quickly. This has caused Certified vehicle sales to slow down some. Our friends at the 4 DFW Five Star Ford dealerships have found themselves overstocked in Ford Certified Pre-owned vehicles.
The cars listed below will be loaded up to go to the auction on October 29th if they are not sold. They’ve calculated what they’ll bring at auction and are offering them to my listeners at the price they project they will bring at the Manheim Auto Auction. Read More
We spent a good amount of time on the Car Pro Show last weekend talking about Teen Driver Safety Week. It can be a life changer for the parents as well as the child. For most parents, your child’s independence is exciting and scary at the same time.
We had a caller to the nationally syndicated show who had a son who wanted a pickup truck. While I like pickups as a first vehicle, this family was on a limited budget. I spoke to the teen on the air to try to explain why he would be better Read More
A Car Pro Show listener recently wanted to know how car dealers make money. He recounted how dealers talk about losing money on new cars all the time. He also knew a new car dealer who lived in a really nice home. It dawned on me that a lot of people might have this same perception.
How Dealerships Make MoneyThe truth is, rarely does a dealership make money on its new cars.
As I have pointed out, the difference between a dealer’s net cost and MSRP is getting thinner and thinner. All this Read More
A Car Pro Show listener was curious if the end of the month was really the best time to buy a vehicle or if it was just hype created by the car dealers and automakers. I have talked many times about dealers hitting their forecast and quotas from the factory. Many times hitting their factory sales numbers makes them big money and they push hard at month in.
When I was in the business, that last car to hit your bonus could mean tens of thousands of dollars, and just getting close doesn’t Read More
I have talked on the air a lot about the dangers of leaving children in hot cars, but I have never broached the subject of child safety seats.
As I researched the subject, I learned that not only are there a wide variety of child seats available, but many child seats are not properly installed. It is also important to understand that as your child grows, he or she will require larger and different kinds of child seats.
3 Basic Types Of Child Seats 1.) Rear-facing seats
