July 8, 2025 • 38 mins
Bradley Jay Fills In On NightSide with Dan Rea
Have you purchased a vehicle lately? You may have experienced a little sticker shock! Why are cars so expensive, and is there any way around it? Bradley chatted with Craig Fitzgerald, Automotive Editor with DCI Marketing, and former auto editor with Hemmings, The Boston Globe, and GateHouse Media.
Have you purchased a vehicle lately? You may have experienced a little sticker shock! Why are cars so expensive, and is there any way around it? Bradley chatted with Craig Fitzgerald, Automotive Editor with DCI Marketing, and former auto editor with Hemmings, The Boston Globe, and GateHouse Media.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's nice size. I'm Doggings Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It is WBZ News Radio ten thirty. It's Night Side
with Dan Ray and I'm Bradley Jay in for Dan.
First guest, we welcome back Craig Fitzgerald, who is our
car guy, automotive writer for DCI Marketing, and he has
a long history of automotive writing. Heming's Motor News and
the like.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Welcome, thanks, Bradley. It's great to be back here.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
And we have agreed go ahead.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm sitting in the chair that Peter Wolf sat in
last night. We called in. Oh guy, so I can
wash after this. That's good. I love that guy. I
loved his book was great. So you got the book? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah. The Peter Wolf book Waiting on the Moon. Fantastic book. Uh.
And we can talk more about that later, but I
want to get to the things we agreed to talk about,
which is why. Well, first, how expensive are new cars
and how do they get that way? And what can
(01:01):
we do about it?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, it's a big It's a big thing in the
industry right now. It's the thing that people are more
sort of interested in and concerned about at the moment,
even more than you know, new product coming out is like,
how are we going to afford the cars that we
have now? And I think especially for people who are
at the low end, who are at the you know,
(01:24):
entry level, you know you're buying your first car after
college or you know, your first car after you get
your first job, and it's it's breathtaking, how much car
how much you know these cars are, how much more
expensive they are over the last few years.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
So, folks, I'm kind of curious. I don't know if
you want to share this, but what is your car payment?
There's a three questions you're going to answer. I'm curious
about how much your car payment is. You know, find
out financial stuff is kind of private, but yeah, some
of you might not mind sharing how much it is,
especially if.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
It's you don't have to give your Social Security number though.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, and if you have a low car payment, it
doesn't mean you're poor, it just means you're smart. And
if you have a high one doesn't mean you're rich.
It just means having a fancy cars of priority for you.
I guess the other thing is I'm just curious, and
Craig and I are always curious what do you drive
and how do you like it?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, you could kind of give your own car a review.
And I'm always interested to talk to people who are
in the market or having issues with their car, or
you know, anything like that they can talk about.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It's always fun talk about that. You can Colin say,
I got this funny noise under my dash? What do
I do? So? Give me an idea of what the
average car payment is these days. I think you're going
to be shocked, folks, shocked the average car payment. I
(02:44):
just looked this up today.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
The average car payment is seven hundred and forty eight
dollars a month. That's the average. That's insane. That means
that there are people out there that are spending thirteen hundred,
fourteen hundred bucks a month on an F two fifty
or whatever it is, you know, the they paid seventy
eighty grand for. And what's interesting now is that the
(03:06):
length of time, the term that people are signing up for.
You know, years ago, when I bought the only new
car I've ever owned, the max you could get was
four years. Then it went to sixty months. Now it's
eighty four months. People are you know seven years long?
People don't keep their cars that long. I think there's
a misconception about how long people actually keep their cars.
(03:30):
The news, you know, newspaper articles and things will tell you, oh,
you know, people are keeping their cars longer than ever before.
The average age is eleven years old. That's that's not true.
The average age of the fleet is eleven years old,
but people only keep them for five years, six years,
that's the average.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So what are the unintended consequences of signing on the
line for eighty whatever it is months.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Eighty four months, like I you know, you could easily
be into one hundred thousand miles in eighty five four months.
Like you know, it's seven years. I mean a lot
of people do that kind of mileage in five years.
So now you're making a payment on a vehicle that
is going to require serious maintenance. So things like timing belts,
(04:15):
timing chain guides, you know, entire cooling systems, water pumps,
all of that kind of stuff is going to go
wrong in one hundred thousand miles. So you're still making
a pretty hefty you know, say the average say your
payment is five hundred dollars a month. You're paying the
five hundred dollars a month and you need to put
(04:35):
you know, two thousand dollars worth of tires on a car.
You need to put brakes on a car, you need
to do all of these kinds of things. And it's
it feels bad for people because they made the payment
so that they could avoid this kind of stuff, but
there's no getting out of it. That's the thing that
you know, I'm trying to like impart to people is
like the the less money you spend up front, the
(04:55):
more freedom you have down the road.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
You know, what kind of car can you get? Or
seven hundred and fifty a month? What kind of cars
are people buying? Most people right now are buying mid
size you know, crossover suv so things like you know
Super Outback or Mazda c X seventy, c X ninety,
you know, those that size vehicle, which is not they're
(05:20):
not in the seven to fifty range. But you know,
it depends on how much money you put down obviously,
and what your term is, but what the average over
you know, all of these people that includes you know,
the largest segment of sales is pickup trucks, so and
they're the most expensive vehicles. Other than you know, ultra
(05:40):
luxury vehicles. Pickup trucks are ridiculously expensive. You say, you go,
you walk around lots car lots and ask the people
that work there what their average.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
That's that's a TikTok meme, now, you know, that's like
people so dealerships, they're social media person is walking around
the dealership and asking the salespeople what's your payment every month?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
And what are you driving?
Speaker 3 (05:59):
What your payment and and they'll answer pretty honestly. And
there's some people who you know, are driving a you know,
ninety six Toyota camera and they're payment a zero. But
then there's also people that are spending sixteen hundred dollars
a month for you know, a Doramax diesel, uh, you know,
twenty five hundred series GMC, which you know, if you're
(06:22):
doing that for a purpose, if it's making money for you,
like look, if it makes you happy, I guess that's cool.
But it's a lot to come up with every single month.
And when the economy turns, as it kind of always does,
and you lose a job, you run into a life
event something like that that that you know, becomes a
(06:43):
major issue.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Sixteen hundred bucks a month for a pickup truck, right,
do it cost that much? Why are they so expensive?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
They're you know, so, so the cheapest pickup that you
can buy, full size pickup you can buy, you know,
cheapest F one fifty is thirty seven grand.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
That's entry level.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Nothing on it, well, I say nothing on it, but
there's a lot of equipment in it.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
But of how many people that have pickup trucks actually
use it for pickup trucky things, I mean it's something no,
I mean it.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I would say it's higher than that because like, you know,
I had a pickup truck. I'm not a contractor, but
I'd go to lows, you know, on the weekends. I'd
you know, do you know dump runs and all that
kind of stuff. So people use them, they do use them,
but you know, it's not like everybody's out there towing
a thirty thousand pound trailer.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
They're they're not doing that. We know that, you know.
So it's like, if you can.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Buy the vehicle you need, rather than trying to overbuy
the vehicle for some specific set of circumstances that you
think you might have down the road, Like, oh, what
if my brother in law asked me to help them move,
and I guess trailer.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I would not want to pick up truck because I
don't want to be asked. You know. I see if
I could get a car with just no seats other
than the received I take that. Can I get it
right over here? I'm the two seater, you know, I
just have the two seater. I don't really see the
need for a back seat. But of course I don't
have a family. Why are there so few two seaters?
(08:13):
If you don't have a family, you're paying for all
the seats you don't need. Right.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
So my daughter went through this. She's twenty one. She
she was driving my Jeep Wrangler that I sold her
for several years, and then this summer she decided she
was going to sell it. Took that money, rolled it in,
wanted to roll it into another car. And she originally thought,
I want a BMW Z three or a Miata or
(08:40):
some kind of two seat sports car, and like totally
made sense to me. But I did say to her, look,
you know, when you go places, you have a lot
of bags with you. You know, you have like you
know she's I tell her she packs like Diana Ross.
You know, she brings everything with her and it's that's
tight in a two seater. So she ended up with
(09:03):
a three Series convertible used you know, it's like a
two thousand and two two thousand and three, and it
gives her a little bit more room, but it's a
really sporty, fun car. It's got a trunk. She can
lock things in it, and she's been really happy with it.
And you know, we're into that. She's into that car
for five thousand bucks.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So we're gonna have fun with Craig for a couple
of hours talking about things automotive. And another thing I
forgot to talk talk to you about is and we
should do this is remember I shared with you my
car buying experience recently. Yes, we need to do that
because it's important. They try to They try to take
advantage of you. And I'm gonna run through the stuff
(09:45):
that happened to me, say you you will be ready
for it. Folks, when you go and buy a car,
it's the guy you talked to initially. He's not the
guy you gotta worry about it. It's finance guy. They
send you down to the intense, closer guy that freaks
you out.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
It's it's a lot. It's a lot, you know, and
you need to be aware of these things when you
go in and try to negotiate the price. It's not
like going to buy a dry you know, youre going
to Low's, you pick out the one that's four hundred
and fifty dollars and you're out the door.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I get to be worth having a representative like yourself
paying paying. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I don't want to do it, brother, I know, but
I bet you would do it for enough money. Yeah,
well maybe I would.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I'm not asking you to. But if you go in there,
and I'm sorry to say this, if you're a woman,
you're gonna get taking advantage of even worse. And I
have I have actual evidence of that. Anecdotal yes, right,
but evidence. So six one, seven, two, five, four, ten
thirty is our number. I'd love to hear if you,
(10:49):
you know, if you want to share something so de private,
how much your car payment is. But I'd also like
to know what you drive, how you feel about it.
And now if you've had a recent car buying experience
with the clothes and you've had to deal with that closer,
what do they call that.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Guy f and I guy financing assurance?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Oh, I had not calculated that into my whole experience,
so I was thrown, you know, a loop.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I have to be honest, I've been I've been through
the experience a couple of times. My mom, you know,
the last time she purchased the car. I went and
bought a new car with her and we had a
pretty decent experience. But yeah, yes, I mean I didn't
identify myself now, but you know what, you say no,
and you're unfaced.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Let's take the break and we'll continue in a moment.
On WBZ.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
That's right. It's Bradley Jay in for Dan Aware with
Craig Fitzgerald, and we're talking car stuff and the things
on the table now. We're talking about how expensive cars
are and how people are getting in the hole from
by having really high car paymasy averages seven hundred and
fifty my goodness. And also we're going to talk about
the car buying experience. I had one fairly recently and
(12:05):
I didn't like it. I'm going we're going to get
some coaching from Craig on that. But ref let's go
to John in Boston. And see what's what's John John's mind?
You ready, Craig, Yes, sir, all right John, Yeah, John,
you're on.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
W w HI.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Yes, good evening. I have a Ford Ecosport that I
bought just at the Pandemic. It's a twenty nineteen Ford Ecosport.
I like it. My cap payment is three hundred and
ninety nine a month. I'm at forty thousand, three hundred
and seventeen miles. The car is going to be paid off,
(12:42):
not this coming August, but next August it will be
paid off. And basically last year I had to put
a new battery in and I'm going to replace the tire.
It was something a recall or something. I had to
take it back to the dealership that they put it
in because I was under the warranty right. But other
(13:04):
than that, other than that, I love it. If it's
in my garage, it's got all bells and whistles. It's
I just I just like it a lot, and you know,
it's it's fun. I've I haven't been using it a
lot to go driving all over I've gone to the
Cape twice with it. I have a cousin lives up
in New Hampshire. I've gone up there about three or
(13:24):
four times, and that's basically it. And I just basically
pop around to keep it local. And you know, I
want to try to stretch his car out as much
as I can to pay it off.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
How long are you going to keep it? John? How
long are you going to keep it? You're going to
keep it to.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
R Well, I'm retired, so I want to keep this
for the next I hope to stretch this out to
another ten years.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Great, Yeah, that's exactly it.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
You know, you get like a car like that that
you've had now for five years, you put forty thousand
miles on you know, you've got a reasonable payment in it.
That's something you want to hang onto for a while.
I mean, that's money in the bank every month once
you once you know, get finished with your payments on it.
That's exactly the situation you want to be in because
you know what what you know, one of the things
(14:11):
that the advice that we're getting from from people now
is like the next eighteen months are going to be
pretty tight, I mean, both the new and the US market.
So if you can hang onto that car and get
another ten years out of it, I mean that's that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
What can he do to ensure that it lasts as
long as possible?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
All the maintenance, it's all spelled out in the book,
and it's you know, it's it's funny that like people
look at that maintenance schedule and they think, like, oh,
this is like a suggestion I don't need to follow.
But it's if you follow that, that car has the
cake the capacity to run well beyond what you think
it will run. So you know, John's going to put
(14:49):
tires on it, you put a battery in it, gonna
do a few things, going to do a timing belt.
You know that that comes you know, after time, more
than mileage in John's case, but you know, you do
those kind of maintenance things, that car will run forever.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Water pump is the one thing.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
That like catches up with people where the water pump
will fail. And these small four cylinder engines that have
really tight tolerances, they can't overheat. It's not like it's
not like in you know, driving around in something with
a Chevy three fifty in it, you could run it
without coolant for a month and it wouldn't matter. But
these cars today need to be cooled, it's being overheat
(15:29):
once they're no good.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
So speaking of they're cooked. Speaking of maintenance. You know
how I am about tires, Everything about tires, I'm a
fanatic for. Yeah, let's talk about just briefly, tire pressure. YEP.
I want to confirm that you're supposed to check the
tire pressure when it's cold, right when it's cold. It
sort of.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Doesn't meaning before you drive it, not like in winter,
but right before you drive it. Right, So that's ideally
you're when you're supposed to check it. But if you're
checking it at all, you're checking it more than the
average person. So you know, like I'll give you a
good example. I was driving around. I'm driving a Nissan
Kicks this week, and it tells me what the tire
pressure is on every whee and first thing in the morning.
(16:12):
That's you know, when the temperatures like it is today,
those tires are at thirty five pounds. Within three or
four miles they're at thirty eight thirty eight. Yeah, so
it's like, you know, hot roads like this, they they
tend to expand a bit. So nobody you're saying, no
one checks the tire PRESCEY don't check that tire pressure
makes such a difference in how it rides exactly, and
(16:34):
their gas, their tire life and all of that kind
of nobody does it. People people don't even have tire gauges,
you know, they like.
Speaker 6 (16:46):
Check.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
It's so rewarding to get your tire pressure just right. Yep.
It is feel good. I feel like the guy in
tool time.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
You know, right right, you did your one maintenance thing
for the month.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So I did. I did an experiment. I tested it
cold yep, and then I drove some and I tested
it hot. Because usually in order to get air, you
gotta go somewhere right, and by the time you got
to the air pump, your tires are hot, right, too
late to really check. So I did a test to
see the different differential between cold and hot. It was
two pounds yep. So if i'm if I'm thinking right
(17:21):
since and I know it's always difficult for me since
it's increased too. If it's let's say it says thirty
seven hot, then it's really thirty five right. But if
I want it to be thirty six, I need to
make it thirty eight right hot. So I got to
(17:43):
add on to two to whatever it is hot at
the pump.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
A two pound difference, A two pound difference isn't going
to make that much of a difference, right, So it's
it's it's totally not sure.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
But I swear I am. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
So, like, if you look at the placard on your car,
it'll give you the cold temperature that you're supposed to
be at, and then the cold temperature where you're supposed
to be at. If you've got two people in a
full load of luggage in the back, so the rear
tires are supposed to be inflated more than the front
tires are in that case. Nobody does that either, So yeah,
(18:16):
it a two pound difference really isn't going to make
that much of a difference to the way the car
feels when you're driving it. All right, I've absolved you
of having to worry about that.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
So how bad does it have to get before you
really run into problems? How many pounds down?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I mean anything, you know, with ten pounds, your car
yell at you if ye And the thing that your
car will yell at you for is a differential between
the tires. So like if they're all down to twenty pounds,
it'll alert you. But it's really looking for the difference
in tires. So if you've got one tire that's got
(18:55):
fifteen and the other one's got thirty five, it's going
to alert you to that.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
One more quick comming of tires and bad luck thing
that had happened. You're supposed to rotate your tires. And
one time we took the car and perfect smooth car,
got it back.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Wobbling. Something happened during the rotation.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Never fixed. It had to get rid of the car
went crazy. You remember that?
Speaker 6 (19:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:18):
I do.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
That was the tig one right, yes, yeah, And he said,
well it might be cupping.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Uh you know unteven were on the tires. Well okay maybe,
but did you swap them back? I don't know. I
don't remember that.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
And a funky you had a check engine light and
then yeah, turbo is ueah right, got rid of it
right while the engine light was not on.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Right. Let's go after this break, we'll go to Bill
and Easton and Heather and Twksbury on w b Z.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
You're on nights Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Bradley J for Day on Night's Side, and we're with
Craig Fitzgerald carry having fun talking car stuff. We're gonna
go to the phone in the moment, but Craig has
told me something we're going to add on to the
list of topics. And a recent study that found out
what features people want on inexpensive cars, like what's the
minimum features? And it turns out people want nothing. And
(20:22):
there's actually a truck with nothing that's very cheap. Craig
wants to buy one, and we'll talk about that in
a while. You might be interested in that, So let
me know if you're, you know, feel like sharing what
you have for car payment, but for certain I'd like
to know. We'd like to know what you're driving, how
you like it, what the strong features are. It's very
(20:43):
helpful for other people trying to buy a car when
they hear somebody say, ooh, I got this and I
really like it. So you're really performing a service if
you call six one, seven, four, ten thirty and first
we have Bill in the easton. Hello, Bill, you're on BZ.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Fairly nice to hear you back on the air.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Thank you, Craig.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Hey Bill, Hi, Hi, Craig. I'm a very contented consumer.
I switched from Honda to Toyota give it a shot.
Top two brands.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yep, for sure.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
Uh so I my salesman promised me a thousand off
if I financed. He renegged, and then the dealership takes
removes the floor mats and resells your weather Tech for
a mock up. Of course, So I love it.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Why you mentioned weather Tech is, Craig, is that worthwhile?
What is that?
Speaker 3 (21:34):
They're They're a great floor mat. I mean, especially around here.
They're a floor liner, so they're they're a rubber liner
that you know, you could put a gallon of water
in these things.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
They come up the side so that you know.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
They collect they hold water better than you know, the
carpet mats obviously, or even some of the the winter
mats that you might get from the manufacturer. But yeah,
weather Tech's they're good mats. But you know the fact
that they took the the original mats out and then
resold you a different set of mats.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
And how much I want them both?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
You know, I said, whether the technotics it's like three
hundred bucks or.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Something like that.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Yeah, yep, that's the mark up.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah. Yeah, So what is Toyota?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
I felt that Toyota would give a softer ride, let's rigid. Yeah,
what are you driving barely? I went from a Civic
to a Corolla. I get the hybrid. I highly recommend it.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
The Hybrid's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
So this is interesting over the last couple of years
is that the bulk of Toyota's product line now is hybrids.
So aside from the trucks, the the the Corolla, the
Mini Van, the Siena, the Grand Highlander, like these are
all hybrid vehicles and you don't have a choice. You
just get the hybrid. But the Corolla, the Corolla Hybrid
(22:52):
is fantastic. It's a really really nice little car.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
It gets the highest rating and consumer report. I chose
that over the conventional.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
And do you take care of it? You real good
about your maintenance?
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Absolutely meticulous, ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
All right.
Speaker 7 (23:10):
I mean, Billy, you're you're, you're, you're a unique customer
because you know, the bulk of people right now are
interested in driving crossover SUVs.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
And what.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
You know what that is vanity and insecurity.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, that's exactly. I mean, I do, I do get it.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
You know, like, all right, if you've got some stuff
that you need to tote around with you, the extra
cargo volume is nice. You know the Corolla Cross which
is basically your car. You know, it's basically a Corolla
Wagon that sits up a little higher. Like, that's a
really nice vehicle too, And I do get why people
are interested in those, but especially at this time when
(23:51):
things are so expensive and people are struggling to get
into things, a.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Sedan is the way to do it.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
A sedan is the way to do it, and not
like kill your self for you know, seven years trying
to make a payment.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
So this is one, this is one of even fifty
five miles per gallon. I want to add that to
the audience.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
That's why wouldn't you You'd be crazy, not too. We
have to start voting with our pocket books as consumers
because this is an Everything is deliberate on the manufacturers.
And don't even get me started on the bright headlights.
But yeah, engage, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Take care of it. Good call, yeah, great call bill,
good guy. Yeah, geez right, headline fifty five miles to
the gallon out of that the Maverick, which I we've
talked about before that I love the Ford pick up,
the hybrid version of that. Even with all wheel drive.
You can get forty forty two forty three miles to
(24:50):
the gallon out of that, Like you have no complaints
about the price of gas when you're when you're driving
something that turns in mileage like that, it's great.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
So Bridge and EV's keeping the price of gasoline down
or they that keeping the.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Dimandon Really not And one of the one of the
sort of alarming not that I want to get into
politics or anything, but one of the alarming things about
this bill that just passed is that people are gonna
people who own hybrids are now liable for a federal
one hundred dollars a year tax on those because they're
not buying enough gas apparently, which like that's like that's
(25:27):
a retroactive tax on something that you already purchased. Seems
like seems like an unfair thing to do to people
who just want to save a few bucks.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Kind of Yeah. Heather in Tewkesbury, Hi, Heather, you're on busy.
Speaker 6 (25:40):
Hi Frank Heather from Dukes Prayer And I unfortunately am
a very recent awful experience with the finance guy, and
I mean on Saturday actually, and like I am still
livid about it. I have been got by the finance
guy before, but this time I feel like I'm thank
(26:03):
you for bringing up how women are treated because I
never really I don't know you you hear things like that,
but I really this time, I feel like they cross
a lot of wines. Yeah, and I don't know I
actually hear. Of course, earlier today I was like looking
up who their general manager was. But you know what,
when I think about I think them, I feel like
they would laugh at me. I don't know, so look
(26:24):
things up and it really is like a boys club.
But I feel like I know I was lied to.
I don't know there's are there any rules around these
people and what they can I didn't get the gap
insurance this time though, and with my game based.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
On that, but where there are a lot.
Speaker 6 (26:38):
Of extended warranty and like what I have gotten it
would I have not? I don't know. But if I'm
spending twenty grand right or whatever more than that, I
don't know why is it? But you know what I mean,
there's a lot of money and can they just they
I don't. I feel like they shouldn't be allowed to
treat you like.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
This there so there are definitely rules that the state
you know, applies to what they can and can't do
in in the dealership. Right, But if I were you,
I would give the dealership the benefit of the doubt
and contact the general manager. I mean he may have yea,
he may have dozens of these complaints and he's just
(27:16):
looking for the one that's going to help him.
Speaker 6 (27:19):
Doesn't hurt.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So absolutely doesn't hurt. And and you know, general managers
like the thing that they're really concerned about is what
their CSI score is, which is the survey that they're
going to give you that says, how is your experience
at this dealership? Did you buy the car from there?
Speaker 5 (27:36):
I did?
Speaker 6 (27:37):
And you know what, I like, that just makes me
feel even more so that's unfortunate.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, that's unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
I mean, and I know that, you know, you're in
this situation and you're feeling a lot of pressure. And
like Bradley and I, you know, during the break, I
said to him, you know, you're you're doing this transaction
once every five years. These people are doing this transaction
twenty times a day. So you're real you off your game,
You're not in your home court, You're you're confused, you
(28:03):
don't know what's going on.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
I cried twice.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
That's I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 6 (28:08):
That that's fortunate, way worse than where I was. You know,
I went through this year and a half ago because
I was trading in a vehicle, and I just I
don't know, man, because I well, what.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Did you end up buying? I'm going to try to
make you feel better about it.
Speaker 6 (28:24):
So I had I got a ki.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Oh Celtos is really nice?
Speaker 6 (28:29):
Okay, you were just saying about like, no.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
No, no, I like that car a lot.
Speaker 6 (28:33):
My point, my ain't. My goal was to lower my
monthly payment, which I did.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
But so you got a car.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
You liked, you you you lowered your monthly payment, and
did you.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Buy the extended warranty?
Speaker 6 (28:47):
I did?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Okay, so you're protected by an extended warranty. I would
contact the general manager, make yourself feel better about that,
and then.
Speaker 6 (28:57):
Just go and enjoy that a copy of the warrant.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I don't know. I you definitely, yeah, you definitely.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
Even if I'm happy with the car, that's the worst
part is I'm still that like upset about the way
it was treated. That I would play to at least
let them know, you know that, that's.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Absolutely and and you know, so you you have you know,
you have the general manager for sure that you can
talk to, and then the the the next person up
the chain is the zone manager from the manufacturer. So
those people are hard to get hold of, so if
you're not, but but you can, you can figure out
who they are.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
So so the the.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Regional zone manager for for whoever the manufacturer is, that's
the representative that is from the brand. And then they
deal with, you know, all of the dealers that represent them,
and they need to hear this. They need to hear
that kind of thing. So I would, I would, but
I would definitely give the gm A a an opportunity
(29:57):
to address the situation for sure.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
Yeah that's oh my, like AI, the first step was
that and if if you know, I feel like I
wasn't even replied to her or whatever. But okay, well,
thank you and thank you for mentioning it, because it's
good to warn people. I've only I heard that. I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Yeah, I am glad you got a nice car, though,
did you get that wild yellow color?
Speaker 6 (30:22):
I think they warned?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, thank you. Hither that's a
good place to stop, you know, I feel for her. Yeah,
she cried twice.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
This should be the best transaction in your life. You
should walk out of a dealership on air that you
just bought a new car that you wanted. And unfortunately
there's a percentage of these transactions that don't end up
that way. But you got to give the GM an
opportunity to do something about it.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
What I was going to ask her what she would
like done about it? What can she expect? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:58):
I would, would you get I mean, at this point,
you know you made the transaction.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
I would.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I wouldn't anticipate that they were going to give you
money back or anything like that, but they may, you know,
they may take care of your your oil changes for
the you know, first couple of years or whatever.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
I mean, who knows, and free popcorn.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Something like that, you know, just to make you feel like, Okay,
I feel better about this purchase I just made.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
All Right. We have Shelley and Jane. We'll get to
in a moment here on WBZ.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
That's right, it's probably Jay and for Dan on Night's Side,
and we're talking about automotive stuff. Your car, do you
like your car? What do you have give it a
little review so other people can get an idea if
that's something they might want to get. And we're also
talking about bad experiences and the dealership anything to do automotive,
and Shelley's been waiting quite a while. I'm going to
(31:54):
get to you in a moment, Shelley, and then Jane,
but I do want to briefly whip through my experience
by car last August. First, there was the trade in.
We looked up of value because you can do that now, yep,
and that's what it would have been the optimum value
to get, right. They offered substantially less than that, and
we said here and we took in a copy of
(32:17):
you know what you could get was a.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Car Vana that you did the research on or a cart.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Remember, And they said, he went did that whole Well
I got to talk to my manager. Yeah. Thing came back, well,
we'll split the difference. I was it fine, I'm not
in the mood to sell this. We want to because
we wanted to get rid of it quick, right. And
so then there was the carbine. We found the car
(32:42):
and we loved it was a Mazda c X five YEP,
which has got what I want. It's tight, it's a
little tall. I can drive a million miles smooth on
the highway. It doesn't have a lot of pickup. But
for some reason, my days of needing super tork are over.
So I'm happy to sacrifice that for the smooth, beautiful,
(33:05):
tight Japanese fit and finish white leather. So it was
all tricked out. Love it. As soon as we get
in it. We felt the door shut and it was boom.
We love it. We knew we were going to get it.
So and then we go back and they send us
to the F and I guy, and you can just
tell what it's gonna be a nasty experience. It's kind of,
(33:31):
I don't know, superuthoritative or just condescending or something. It
was an unpleasant vibe and he and he starts trying
to sell stuff like extended warranty did not get And
then I foolishly got up and left the room and
left Shannon, my partner in that room, immediately is on
(33:56):
her having her fill up these forms with information and stuff.
And I got back in and was livid. I said,
I said no, no, we don't want to answer that,
and didn't push it right. So obviously it was not necessary.
What they do is they make you think you have
to do this, well, you got to do it. They
make you think it's like a legal thing.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
The only thing you need to do is either buy
the car or don't buy the car. That's you know,
that's the bottom line. And and I don't fault them
for trying to make a few extra bucks, right, so
they're going to sell the extension. I just want people
to know what to expect when they go into that room.
You know, you're they're going to off you financing, right,
that's the first that's the fright. So so I am
(34:37):
I always advise people to have your financing set up
before you go in the dealership. You know what the
deal is, and if they can present you a better deal,
take the better deal, you know, or or you know
if they're gonna look if they're going to try to
sell you accessories. There are advantages to buying accessories from them.
You can roll it into your payment. They're protected by
(34:59):
the warranty, so there are some advantages. But it's the
pressure and the you can't leave this room.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Without you know, you have to. And they started asking
questions that it didn't seem that they needed to know,
and they presented like, oh, you got to answer these
questions they were they were information mining that they were
going to sell that information right, stuff that didn't seem
relevant at all, and it was most unpleasant. Bet And
(35:26):
if you don't want to do it, I'll find somebody
I would pay next time I have to do it.
I just hard guy go in there.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
That's the thing that I want people to understand is
what to expect when you go in that room. You know,
and it's not all bad, but it can be bad
if you don't if you're not prepared for that.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Right, Let's go to Shelley and Danvers. Hi, Shelley, thanks
for waiting.
Speaker 8 (35:46):
Hi, Shell, Hi, can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Yes?
Speaker 8 (35:50):
Okay, great. So I have two questions. I have a
two thoy thirteen Honda CRG and I bought it new
my brother would to the dealership, bought it right now.
It has two hundred and one thousand miles on it beautiful,
and one question is would it be reasonable to expect
(36:13):
that it could go to three hundred thousand? And my
other question is when I am ready to get another
car and I want to maybe get something different, just
for a change. What would be a make that would
be able to do what Honda can do, Like it
just keeps going.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
So you're absolutely reasonable to think that that could go
three hundred thousand miles easy.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
I'm very excited.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah, so, you.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Know, and with a caveat that, like you've got to
be really you know, persnicty about the maintenance. So you
got to follow the maintenance guide in the back of
the in the warranty and mainitland maintenance booklet. Make sure
you get you know, your timing belt or I'm not
sure if it's a belt or a chain in that
I can't remember, but you know, you want to make
(37:02):
sure that those things are taken care of. Make sure
that your water pump is replaced, and your belts are replaced,
and because all of those things add up, and that, honestly,
that's why people end up trading cars, because they are
presented with a bill of like, well, geez, in order
to get all these things done. It's five grand, right
(37:24):
that you know, And that's just the number I'm picking
out of my head, but you know, say it's that number.
Five grand is a lot less money to spend than
forty five to replace the vehicle that you've got, right,
So that's what you're into with a CRV probably around
forty forty two something like that, to replace the car.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
That you have. What's an alternative to the Hunta because
we have a limit.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
I mean, I love I love the Rav four, I
love the Kia products. I think they're great. The Sportage
is a very nice vehicle. But you know the difference
between what you're driving in the current Honda Civic Honda
CRV there night and day, So definitely drive.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
That one too.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
Okay, good to know, Thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Yeah, they changed the body style on the Hot CRV.
Change the body longer and kind of fancy, way quieter.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
That was the issue when like that era especially, they're
kind of noisy inside. That's really kind of kind of
gone away. Now they're very quiet and nice inside.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
All Right, it's time for the news now, right Rob
on WBZ News Radio ten thirty
It's nice size. I'm Doggings Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It is WBZ News Radio ten thirty. It's Night Side
with Dan Ray and I'm Bradley Jay in for Dan.
First guest, we welcome back Craig Fitzgerald, who is our
car guy, automotive writer for DCI Marketing, and he has
a long history of automotive writing. Heming's Motor News and
the like.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Welcome, thanks, Bradley. It's great to be back here.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
And we have agreed go ahead.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm sitting in the chair that Peter Wolf sat in
last night. We called in. Oh guy, so I can
wash after this. That's good. I love that guy. I
loved his book was great. So you got the book? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah. The Peter Wolf book Waiting on the Moon. Fantastic book. Uh.
And we can talk more about that later, but I
want to get to the things we agreed to talk about,
which is why. Well, first, how expensive are new cars
and how do they get that way? And what can
(01:01):
we do about it?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, it's a big It's a big thing in the
industry right now. It's the thing that people are more
sort of interested in and concerned about at the moment,
even more than you know, new product coming out is like,
how are we going to afford the cars that we
have now? And I think especially for people who are
at the low end, who are at the you know,
(01:24):
entry level, you know you're buying your first car after
college or you know, your first car after you get
your first job, and it's it's breathtaking, how much car
how much you know these cars are, how much more
expensive they are over the last few years.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
So, folks, I'm kind of curious. I don't know if
you want to share this, but what is your car payment?
There's a three questions you're going to answer. I'm curious
about how much your car payment is. You know, find
out financial stuff is kind of private, but yeah, some
of you might not mind sharing how much it is,
especially if.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
It's you don't have to give your Social Security number though.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, and if you have a low car payment, it
doesn't mean you're poor, it just means you're smart. And
if you have a high one doesn't mean you're rich.
It just means having a fancy cars of priority for you.
I guess the other thing is I'm just curious, and
Craig and I are always curious what do you drive
and how do you like it?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, you could kind of give your own car a review.
And I'm always interested to talk to people who are
in the market or having issues with their car, or
you know, anything like that they can talk about.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It's always fun talk about that. You can Colin say,
I got this funny noise under my dash? What do
I do? So? Give me an idea of what the
average car payment is these days. I think you're going
to be shocked, folks, shocked the average car payment. I
(02:44):
just looked this up today.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
The average car payment is seven hundred and forty eight
dollars a month. That's the average. That's insane. That means
that there are people out there that are spending thirteen hundred,
fourteen hundred bucks a month on an F two fifty
or whatever it is, you know, the they paid seventy
eighty grand for. And what's interesting now is that the
(03:06):
length of time, the term that people are signing up for.
You know, years ago, when I bought the only new
car I've ever owned, the max you could get was
four years. Then it went to sixty months. Now it's
eighty four months. People are you know seven years long?
People don't keep their cars that long. I think there's
a misconception about how long people actually keep their cars.
(03:30):
The news, you know, newspaper articles and things will tell you, oh,
you know, people are keeping their cars longer than ever before.
The average age is eleven years old. That's that's not true.
The average age of the fleet is eleven years old,
but people only keep them for five years, six years,
that's the average.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So what are the unintended consequences of signing on the
line for eighty whatever it is months.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Eighty four months, like I you know, you could easily
be into one hundred thousand miles in eighty five four months.
Like you know, it's seven years. I mean a lot
of people do that kind of mileage in five years.
So now you're making a payment on a vehicle that
is going to require serious maintenance. So things like timing belts,
(04:15):
timing chain guides, you know, entire cooling systems, water pumps,
all of that kind of stuff is going to go
wrong in one hundred thousand miles. So you're still making
a pretty hefty you know, say the average say your
payment is five hundred dollars a month. You're paying the
five hundred dollars a month and you need to put
(04:35):
you know, two thousand dollars worth of tires on a car.
You need to put brakes on a car, you need
to do all of these kinds of things. And it's
it feels bad for people because they made the payment
so that they could avoid this kind of stuff, but
there's no getting out of it. That's the thing that
you know, I'm trying to like impart to people is
like the the less money you spend up front, the
(04:55):
more freedom you have down the road.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
You know, what kind of car can you get? Or
seven hundred and fifty a month? What kind of cars
are people buying? Most people right now are buying mid
size you know, crossover suv so things like you know
Super Outback or Mazda c X seventy, c X ninety,
you know, those that size vehicle, which is not they're
(05:20):
not in the seven to fifty range. But you know,
it depends on how much money you put down obviously,
and what your term is, but what the average over
you know, all of these people that includes you know,
the largest segment of sales is pickup trucks, so and
they're the most expensive vehicles. Other than you know, ultra
(05:40):
luxury vehicles. Pickup trucks are ridiculously expensive. You say, you go,
you walk around lots car lots and ask the people
that work there what their average.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
That's that's a TikTok meme, now, you know, that's like
people so dealerships, they're social media person is walking around
the dealership and asking the salespeople what's your payment every month?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
And what are you driving?
Speaker 3 (05:59):
What your payment and and they'll answer pretty honestly. And
there's some people who you know, are driving a you know,
ninety six Toyota camera and they're payment a zero. But
then there's also people that are spending sixteen hundred dollars
a month for you know, a Doramax diesel, uh, you know,
twenty five hundred series GMC, which you know, if you're
(06:22):
doing that for a purpose, if it's making money for you,
like look, if it makes you happy, I guess that's cool.
But it's a lot to come up with every single month.
And when the economy turns, as it kind of always does,
and you lose a job, you run into a life
event something like that that that you know, becomes a
(06:43):
major issue.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Sixteen hundred bucks a month for a pickup truck, right,
do it cost that much? Why are they so expensive?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
They're you know, so, so the cheapest pickup that you
can buy, full size pickup you can buy, you know,
cheapest F one fifty is thirty seven grand.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
That's entry level.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Nothing on it, well, I say nothing on it, but
there's a lot of equipment in it.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
But of how many people that have pickup trucks actually
use it for pickup trucky things, I mean it's something no,
I mean it.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I would say it's higher than that because like, you know,
I had a pickup truck. I'm not a contractor, but
I'd go to lows, you know, on the weekends. I'd
you know, do you know dump runs and all that
kind of stuff. So people use them, they do use them,
but you know, it's not like everybody's out there towing
a thirty thousand pound trailer.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
They're they're not doing that. We know that, you know.
So it's like, if you can.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Buy the vehicle you need, rather than trying to overbuy
the vehicle for some specific set of circumstances that you
think you might have down the road, Like, oh, what
if my brother in law asked me to help them move,
and I guess trailer.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I would not want to pick up truck because I
don't want to be asked. You know. I see if
I could get a car with just no seats other
than the received I take that. Can I get it
right over here? I'm the two seater, you know, I
just have the two seater. I don't really see the
need for a back seat. But of course I don't
have a family. Why are there so few two seaters?
(08:13):
If you don't have a family, you're paying for all
the seats you don't need. Right.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
So my daughter went through this. She's twenty one. She
she was driving my Jeep Wrangler that I sold her
for several years, and then this summer she decided she
was going to sell it. Took that money, rolled it in,
wanted to roll it into another car. And she originally thought,
I want a BMW Z three or a Miata or
(08:40):
some kind of two seat sports car, and like totally
made sense to me. But I did say to her, look,
you know, when you go places, you have a lot
of bags with you. You know, you have like you
know she's I tell her she packs like Diana Ross.
You know, she brings everything with her and it's that's
tight in a two seater. So she ended up with
(09:03):
a three Series convertible used you know, it's like a
two thousand and two two thousand and three, and it
gives her a little bit more room, but it's a
really sporty, fun car. It's got a trunk. She can
lock things in it, and she's been really happy with it.
And you know, we're into that. She's into that car
for five thousand bucks.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So we're gonna have fun with Craig for a couple
of hours talking about things automotive. And another thing I
forgot to talk talk to you about is and we
should do this is remember I shared with you my
car buying experience recently. Yes, we need to do that
because it's important. They try to They try to take
advantage of you. And I'm gonna run through the stuff
(09:45):
that happened to me, say you you will be ready
for it. Folks, when you go and buy a car,
it's the guy you talked to initially. He's not the
guy you gotta worry about it. It's finance guy. They
send you down to the intense, closer guy that freaks
you out.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
It's it's a lot. It's a lot, you know, and
you need to be aware of these things when you
go in and try to negotiate the price. It's not
like going to buy a dry you know, youre going
to Low's, you pick out the one that's four hundred
and fifty dollars and you're out the door.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I get to be worth having a representative like yourself
paying paying. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I don't want to do it, brother, I know, but
I bet you would do it for enough money. Yeah,
well maybe I would.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I'm not asking you to. But if you go in there,
and I'm sorry to say this, if you're a woman,
you're gonna get taking advantage of even worse. And I
have I have actual evidence of that. Anecdotal yes, right,
but evidence. So six one, seven, two, five, four, ten
thirty is our number. I'd love to hear if you,
(10:49):
you know, if you want to share something so de private,
how much your car payment is. But I'd also like
to know what you drive, how you feel about it.
And now if you've had a recent car buying experience
with the clothes and you've had to deal with that closer,
what do they call that.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Guy f and I guy financing assurance?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Oh, I had not calculated that into my whole experience,
so I was thrown, you know, a loop.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I have to be honest, I've been I've been through
the experience a couple of times. My mom, you know,
the last time she purchased the car. I went and
bought a new car with her and we had a
pretty decent experience. But yeah, yes, I mean I didn't
identify myself now, but you know what, you say no,
and you're unfaced.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Let's take the break and we'll continue in a moment.
On WBZ.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
That's right. It's Bradley Jay in for Dan Aware with
Craig Fitzgerald, and we're talking car stuff and the things
on the table now. We're talking about how expensive cars
are and how people are getting in the hole from
by having really high car paymasy averages seven hundred and
fifty my goodness. And also we're going to talk about
the car buying experience. I had one fairly recently and
(12:05):
I didn't like it. I'm going we're going to get
some coaching from Craig on that. But ref let's go
to John in Boston. And see what's what's John John's mind?
You ready, Craig, Yes, sir, all right John, Yeah, John,
you're on.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
W w HI.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Yes, good evening. I have a Ford Ecosport that I
bought just at the Pandemic. It's a twenty nineteen Ford Ecosport.
I like it. My cap payment is three hundred and
ninety nine a month. I'm at forty thousand, three hundred
and seventeen miles. The car is going to be paid off,
(12:42):
not this coming August, but next August it will be
paid off. And basically last year I had to put
a new battery in and I'm going to replace the tire.
It was something a recall or something. I had to
take it back to the dealership that they put it
in because I was under the warranty right. But other
(13:04):
than that, other than that, I love it. If it's
in my garage, it's got all bells and whistles. It's
I just I just like it a lot, and you know,
it's it's fun. I've I haven't been using it a
lot to go driving all over I've gone to the
Cape twice with it. I have a cousin lives up
in New Hampshire. I've gone up there about three or
(13:24):
four times, and that's basically it. And I just basically
pop around to keep it local. And you know, I
want to try to stretch his car out as much
as I can to pay it off.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
How long are you going to keep it? John? How
long are you going to keep it? You're going to
keep it to.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
R Well, I'm retired, so I want to keep this
for the next I hope to stretch this out to
another ten years.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Great, Yeah, that's exactly it.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
You know, you get like a car like that that
you've had now for five years, you put forty thousand
miles on you know, you've got a reasonable payment in it.
That's something you want to hang onto for a while.
I mean, that's money in the bank every month once
you once you know, get finished with your payments on it.
That's exactly the situation you want to be in because
you know what what you know, one of the things
(14:11):
that the advice that we're getting from from people now
is like the next eighteen months are going to be
pretty tight, I mean, both the new and the US market.
So if you can hang onto that car and get
another ten years out of it, I mean that's that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
What can he do to ensure that it lasts as
long as possible?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
All the maintenance, it's all spelled out in the book,
and it's you know, it's it's funny that like people
look at that maintenance schedule and they think, like, oh,
this is like a suggestion I don't need to follow.
But it's if you follow that, that car has the
cake the capacity to run well beyond what you think
it will run. So you know, John's going to put
(14:49):
tires on it, you put a battery in it, gonna
do a few things, going to do a timing belt.
You know that that comes you know, after time, more
than mileage in John's case, but you know, you do
those kind of maintenance things, that car will run forever.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Water pump is the one thing.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
That like catches up with people where the water pump
will fail. And these small four cylinder engines that have
really tight tolerances, they can't overheat. It's not like it's
not like in you know, driving around in something with
a Chevy three fifty in it, you could run it
without coolant for a month and it wouldn't matter. But
these cars today need to be cooled, it's being overheat
(15:29):
once they're no good.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
So speaking of they're cooked. Speaking of maintenance. You know
how I am about tires, Everything about tires, I'm a
fanatic for. Yeah, let's talk about just briefly, tire pressure. YEP.
I want to confirm that you're supposed to check the
tire pressure when it's cold, right when it's cold. It
sort of.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Doesn't meaning before you drive it, not like in winter,
but right before you drive it. Right, So that's ideally
you're when you're supposed to check it. But if you're
checking it at all, you're checking it more than the
average person. So you know, like I'll give you a
good example. I was driving around. I'm driving a Nissan
Kicks this week, and it tells me what the tire
pressure is on every whee and first thing in the morning.
(16:12):
That's you know, when the temperatures like it is today,
those tires are at thirty five pounds. Within three or
four miles they're at thirty eight thirty eight. Yeah, so
it's like, you know, hot roads like this, they they
tend to expand a bit. So nobody you're saying, no
one checks the tire PRESCEY don't check that tire pressure
makes such a difference in how it rides exactly, and
(16:34):
their gas, their tire life and all of that kind
of nobody does it. People people don't even have tire gauges,
you know, they like.
Speaker 6 (16:46):
Check.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
It's so rewarding to get your tire pressure just right. Yep.
It is feel good. I feel like the guy in
tool time.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
You know, right right, you did your one maintenance thing
for the month.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So I did. I did an experiment. I tested it
cold yep, and then I drove some and I tested
it hot. Because usually in order to get air, you
gotta go somewhere right, and by the time you got
to the air pump, your tires are hot, right, too
late to really check. So I did a test to
see the different differential between cold and hot. It was
two pounds yep. So if i'm if I'm thinking right
(17:21):
since and I know it's always difficult for me since
it's increased too. If it's let's say it says thirty
seven hot, then it's really thirty five right. But if
I want it to be thirty six, I need to
make it thirty eight right hot. So I got to
(17:43):
add on to two to whatever it is hot at
the pump.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
A two pound difference, A two pound difference isn't going
to make that much of a difference, right, So it's
it's it's totally not sure.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
But I swear I am. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
So, like, if you look at the placard on your car,
it'll give you the cold temperature that you're supposed to
be at, and then the cold temperature where you're supposed
to be at. If you've got two people in a
full load of luggage in the back, so the rear
tires are supposed to be inflated more than the front
tires are in that case. Nobody does that either, So yeah,
(18:16):
it a two pound difference really isn't going to make
that much of a difference to the way the car
feels when you're driving it. All right, I've absolved you
of having to worry about that.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
So how bad does it have to get before you
really run into problems? How many pounds down?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I mean anything, you know, with ten pounds, your car
yell at you if ye And the thing that your
car will yell at you for is a differential between
the tires. So like if they're all down to twenty pounds,
it'll alert you. But it's really looking for the difference
in tires. So if you've got one tire that's got
(18:55):
fifteen and the other one's got thirty five, it's going
to alert you to that.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
One more quick comming of tires and bad luck thing
that had happened. You're supposed to rotate your tires. And
one time we took the car and perfect smooth car,
got it back.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Wobbling. Something happened during the rotation.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Never fixed. It had to get rid of the car
went crazy. You remember that?
Speaker 6 (19:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:18):
I do.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
That was the tig one right, yes, yeah, And he said,
well it might be cupping.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Uh you know unteven were on the tires. Well okay maybe,
but did you swap them back? I don't know. I
don't remember that.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
And a funky you had a check engine light and
then yeah, turbo is ueah right, got rid of it
right while the engine light was not on.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Right. Let's go after this break, we'll go to Bill
and Easton and Heather and Twksbury on w b Z.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
You're on nights Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Bradley J for Day on Night's Side, and we're with
Craig Fitzgerald carry having fun talking car stuff. We're gonna
go to the phone in the moment, but Craig has
told me something we're going to add on to the
list of topics. And a recent study that found out
what features people want on inexpensive cars, like what's the
minimum features? And it turns out people want nothing. And
(20:22):
there's actually a truck with nothing that's very cheap. Craig
wants to buy one, and we'll talk about that in
a while. You might be interested in that, So let
me know if you're, you know, feel like sharing what
you have for car payment, but for certain I'd like
to know. We'd like to know what you're driving, how
you like it, what the strong features are. It's very
(20:43):
helpful for other people trying to buy a car when
they hear somebody say, ooh, I got this and I
really like it. So you're really performing a service if
you call six one, seven, four, ten thirty and first
we have Bill in the easton. Hello, Bill, you're on BZ.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Fairly nice to hear you back on the air.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Thank you, Craig.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Hey Bill, Hi, Hi, Craig. I'm a very contented consumer.
I switched from Honda to Toyota give it a shot.
Top two brands.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yep, for sure.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
Uh so I my salesman promised me a thousand off
if I financed. He renegged, and then the dealership takes
removes the floor mats and resells your weather Tech for
a mock up. Of course, So I love it.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Why you mentioned weather Tech is, Craig, is that worthwhile?
What is that?
Speaker 3 (21:34):
They're They're a great floor mat. I mean, especially around here.
They're a floor liner, so they're they're a rubber liner
that you know, you could put a gallon of water
in these things.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
They come up the side so that you know.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
They collect they hold water better than you know, the
carpet mats obviously, or even some of the the winter
mats that you might get from the manufacturer. But yeah,
weather Tech's they're good mats. But you know the fact
that they took the the original mats out and then
resold you a different set of mats.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
And how much I want them both?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
You know, I said, whether the technotics it's like three
hundred bucks or.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Something like that.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Yeah, yep, that's the mark up.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah. Yeah, So what is Toyota?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
I felt that Toyota would give a softer ride, let's rigid. Yeah,
what are you driving barely? I went from a Civic
to a Corolla. I get the hybrid. I highly recommend it.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
The Hybrid's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
So this is interesting over the last couple of years
is that the bulk of Toyota's product line now is hybrids.
So aside from the trucks, the the the Corolla, the
Mini Van, the Siena, the Grand Highlander, like these are
all hybrid vehicles and you don't have a choice. You
just get the hybrid. But the Corolla, the Corolla Hybrid
(22:52):
is fantastic. It's a really really nice little car.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
It gets the highest rating and consumer report. I chose
that over the conventional.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
And do you take care of it? You real good
about your maintenance?
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Absolutely meticulous, ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
All right.
Speaker 7 (23:10):
I mean, Billy, you're you're, you're, you're a unique customer
because you know, the bulk of people right now are
interested in driving crossover SUVs.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
And what.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
You know what that is vanity and insecurity.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, that's exactly. I mean, I do, I do get it.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
You know, like, all right, if you've got some stuff
that you need to tote around with you, the extra
cargo volume is nice. You know the Corolla Cross which
is basically your car. You know, it's basically a Corolla
Wagon that sits up a little higher. Like, that's a
really nice vehicle too, And I do get why people
are interested in those, but especially at this time when
(23:51):
things are so expensive and people are struggling to get
into things, a.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Sedan is the way to do it.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
A sedan is the way to do it, and not
like kill your self for you know, seven years trying
to make a payment.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
So this is one, this is one of even fifty
five miles per gallon. I want to add that to
the audience.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
That's why wouldn't you You'd be crazy, not too. We
have to start voting with our pocket books as consumers
because this is an Everything is deliberate on the manufacturers.
And don't even get me started on the bright headlights.
But yeah, engage, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Take care of it. Good call, yeah, great call bill,
good guy. Yeah, geez right, headline fifty five miles to
the gallon out of that the Maverick, which I we've
talked about before that I love the Ford pick up,
the hybrid version of that. Even with all wheel drive.
You can get forty forty two forty three miles to
(24:50):
the gallon out of that, Like you have no complaints
about the price of gas when you're when you're driving
something that turns in mileage like that, it's great.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
So Bridge and EV's keeping the price of gasoline down
or they that keeping the.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Dimandon Really not And one of the one of the
sort of alarming not that I want to get into
politics or anything, but one of the alarming things about
this bill that just passed is that people are gonna
people who own hybrids are now liable for a federal
one hundred dollars a year tax on those because they're
not buying enough gas apparently, which like that's like that's
(25:27):
a retroactive tax on something that you already purchased. Seems
like seems like an unfair thing to do to people
who just want to save a few bucks.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Kind of Yeah. Heather in Tewkesbury, Hi, Heather, you're on busy.
Speaker 6 (25:40):
Hi Frank Heather from Dukes Prayer And I unfortunately am
a very recent awful experience with the finance guy, and
I mean on Saturday actually, and like I am still
livid about it. I have been got by the finance
guy before, but this time I feel like I'm thank
(26:03):
you for bringing up how women are treated because I
never really I don't know you you hear things like that,
but I really this time, I feel like they cross
a lot of wines. Yeah, and I don't know I
actually hear. Of course, earlier today I was like looking
up who their general manager was. But you know what,
when I think about I think them, I feel like
they would laugh at me. I don't know, so look
(26:24):
things up and it really is like a boys club.
But I feel like I know I was lied to.
I don't know there's are there any rules around these
people and what they can I didn't get the gap
insurance this time though, and with my game based.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
On that, but where there are a lot.
Speaker 6 (26:38):
Of extended warranty and like what I have gotten it
would I have not? I don't know. But if I'm
spending twenty grand right or whatever more than that, I
don't know why is it? But you know what I mean,
there's a lot of money and can they just they
I don't. I feel like they shouldn't be allowed to
treat you like.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
This there so there are definitely rules that the state
you know, applies to what they can and can't do
in in the dealership. Right, But if I were you,
I would give the dealership the benefit of the doubt
and contact the general manager. I mean he may have yea,
he may have dozens of these complaints and he's just
(27:16):
looking for the one that's going to help him.
Speaker 6 (27:19):
Doesn't hurt.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So absolutely doesn't hurt. And and you know, general managers
like the thing that they're really concerned about is what
their CSI score is, which is the survey that they're
going to give you that says, how is your experience
at this dealership? Did you buy the car from there?
Speaker 5 (27:36):
I did?
Speaker 6 (27:37):
And you know what, I like, that just makes me
feel even more so that's unfortunate.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, that's unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
I mean, and I know that, you know, you're in
this situation and you're feeling a lot of pressure. And
like Bradley and I, you know, during the break, I
said to him, you know, you're you're doing this transaction
once every five years. These people are doing this transaction
twenty times a day. So you're real you off your game,
You're not in your home court, You're you're confused, you
(28:03):
don't know what's going on.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
I cried twice.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
That's I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 6 (28:08):
That that's fortunate, way worse than where I was. You know,
I went through this year and a half ago because
I was trading in a vehicle, and I just I
don't know, man, because I well, what.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Did you end up buying? I'm going to try to
make you feel better about it.
Speaker 6 (28:24):
So I had I got a ki.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Oh Celtos is really nice?
Speaker 6 (28:29):
Okay, you were just saying about like, no.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
No, no, I like that car a lot.
Speaker 6 (28:33):
My point, my ain't. My goal was to lower my
monthly payment, which I did.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
But so you got a car.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
You liked, you you you lowered your monthly payment, and
did you.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Buy the extended warranty?
Speaker 6 (28:47):
I did?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Okay, so you're protected by an extended warranty. I would
contact the general manager, make yourself feel better about that,
and then.
Speaker 6 (28:57):
Just go and enjoy that a copy of the warrant.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I don't know. I you definitely, yeah, you definitely.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
Even if I'm happy with the car, that's the worst
part is I'm still that like upset about the way
it was treated. That I would play to at least
let them know, you know that, that's.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Absolutely and and you know, so you you have you know,
you have the general manager for sure that you can
talk to, and then the the the next person up
the chain is the zone manager from the manufacturer. So
those people are hard to get hold of, so if
you're not, but but you can, you can figure out
who they are.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
So so the the.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Regional zone manager for for whoever the manufacturer is, that's
the representative that is from the brand. And then they
deal with, you know, all of the dealers that represent them,
and they need to hear this. They need to hear
that kind of thing. So I would, I would, but
I would definitely give the gm A a an opportunity
(29:57):
to address the situation for sure.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
Yeah that's oh my, like AI, the first step was
that and if if you know, I feel like I
wasn't even replied to her or whatever. But okay, well,
thank you and thank you for mentioning it, because it's
good to warn people. I've only I heard that. I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Yeah, I am glad you got a nice car, though,
did you get that wild yellow color?
Speaker 6 (30:22):
I think they warned?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, thank you. Hither that's a
good place to stop, you know, I feel for her. Yeah,
she cried twice.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
This should be the best transaction in your life. You
should walk out of a dealership on air that you
just bought a new car that you wanted. And unfortunately
there's a percentage of these transactions that don't end up
that way. But you got to give the GM an
opportunity to do something about it.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
What I was going to ask her what she would
like done about it? What can she expect? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:58):
I would, would you get I mean, at this point,
you know you made the transaction.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
I would.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I wouldn't anticipate that they were going to give you
money back or anything like that, but they may, you know,
they may take care of your your oil changes for
the you know, first couple of years or whatever.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
I mean, who knows, and free popcorn.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Something like that, you know, just to make you feel like, Okay,
I feel better about this purchase I just made.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
All Right. We have Shelley and Jane. We'll get to
in a moment here on WBZ.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
That's right, it's probably Jay and for Dan on Night's Side,
and we're talking about automotive stuff. Your car, do you
like your car? What do you have give it a
little review so other people can get an idea if
that's something they might want to get. And we're also
talking about bad experiences and the dealership anything to do automotive,
and Shelley's been waiting quite a while. I'm going to
(31:54):
get to you in a moment, Shelley, and then Jane,
but I do want to briefly whip through my experience
by car last August. First, there was the trade in.
We looked up of value because you can do that now, yep,
and that's what it would have been the optimum value
to get, right. They offered substantially less than that, and
we said here and we took in a copy of
(32:17):
you know what you could get was a.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Car Vana that you did the research on or a cart.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Remember, And they said, he went did that whole Well
I got to talk to my manager. Yeah. Thing came back, well,
we'll split the difference. I was it fine, I'm not
in the mood to sell this. We want to because
we wanted to get rid of it quick, right. And
so then there was the carbine. We found the car
(32:42):
and we loved it was a Mazda c X five YEP,
which has got what I want. It's tight, it's a
little tall. I can drive a million miles smooth on
the highway. It doesn't have a lot of pickup. But
for some reason, my days of needing super tork are over.
So I'm happy to sacrifice that for the smooth, beautiful,
(33:05):
tight Japanese fit and finish white leather. So it was
all tricked out. Love it. As soon as we get
in it. We felt the door shut and it was boom.
We love it. We knew we were going to get it.
So and then we go back and they send us
to the F and I guy, and you can just
tell what it's gonna be a nasty experience. It's kind of,
(33:31):
I don't know, superuthoritative or just condescending or something. It
was an unpleasant vibe and he and he starts trying
to sell stuff like extended warranty did not get And
then I foolishly got up and left the room and
left Shannon, my partner in that room, immediately is on
(33:56):
her having her fill up these forms with information and stuff.
And I got back in and was livid. I said,
I said no, no, we don't want to answer that,
and didn't push it right. So obviously it was not necessary.
What they do is they make you think you have
to do this, well, you got to do it. They
make you think it's like a legal thing.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
The only thing you need to do is either buy
the car or don't buy the car. That's you know,
that's the bottom line. And and I don't fault them
for trying to make a few extra bucks, right, so
they're going to sell the extension. I just want people
to know what to expect when they go into that room.
You know, you're they're going to off you financing, right,
that's the first that's the fright. So so I am
(34:37):
I always advise people to have your financing set up
before you go in the dealership. You know what the
deal is, and if they can present you a better deal,
take the better deal, you know, or or you know
if they're gonna look if they're going to try to
sell you accessories. There are advantages to buying accessories from them.
You can roll it into your payment. They're protected by
(34:59):
the warranty, so there are some advantages. But it's the
pressure and the you can't leave this room.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Without you know, you have to. And they started asking
questions that it didn't seem that they needed to know,
and they presented like, oh, you got to answer these
questions they were they were information mining that they were
going to sell that information right, stuff that didn't seem
relevant at all, and it was most unpleasant. Bet And
(35:26):
if you don't want to do it, I'll find somebody
I would pay next time I have to do it.
I just hard guy go in there.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
That's the thing that I want people to understand is
what to expect when you go in that room. You know,
and it's not all bad, but it can be bad
if you don't if you're not prepared for that.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Right, Let's go to Shelley and Danvers. Hi, Shelley, thanks
for waiting.
Speaker 8 (35:46):
Hi, Shell, Hi, can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Yes?
Speaker 8 (35:50):
Okay, great. So I have two questions. I have a
two thoy thirteen Honda CRG and I bought it new
my brother would to the dealership, bought it right now.
It has two hundred and one thousand miles on it beautiful,
and one question is would it be reasonable to expect
(36:13):
that it could go to three hundred thousand? And my
other question is when I am ready to get another
car and I want to maybe get something different, just
for a change. What would be a make that would
be able to do what Honda can do, Like it
just keeps going.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
So you're absolutely reasonable to think that that could go
three hundred thousand miles easy.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
I'm very excited.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah, so, you.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Know, and with a caveat that, like you've got to
be really you know, persnicty about the maintenance. So you
got to follow the maintenance guide in the back of
the in the warranty and mainitland maintenance booklet. Make sure
you get you know, your timing belt or I'm not
sure if it's a belt or a chain in that
I can't remember, but you know, you want to make
(37:02):
sure that those things are taken care of. Make sure
that your water pump is replaced, and your belts are replaced,
and because all of those things add up, and that, honestly,
that's why people end up trading cars, because they are
presented with a bill of like, well, geez, in order
to get all these things done. It's five grand, right
(37:24):
that you know, And that's just the number I'm picking
out of my head, but you know, say it's that number.
Five grand is a lot less money to spend than
forty five to replace the vehicle that you've got, right,
So that's what you're into with a CRV probably around
forty forty two something like that, to replace the car.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
That you have. What's an alternative to the Hunta because
we have a limit.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
I mean, I love I love the Rav four, I
love the Kia products. I think they're great. The Sportage
is a very nice vehicle. But you know the difference
between what you're driving in the current Honda Civic Honda
CRV there night and day, So definitely drive.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
That one too.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
Okay, good to know, Thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Yeah, they changed the body style on the Hot CRV.
Change the body longer and kind of fancy, way quieter.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
That was the issue when like that era especially, they're
kind of noisy inside. That's really kind of kind of
gone away. Now they're very quiet and nice inside.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
All Right, it's time for the news now, right Rob
on WBZ News Radio ten thirty
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