This is the stand alone interview from the June 7, 2025 Hour 1 Show.
Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, sat down with Cherokee Hart, Finance Manager at Mahwah Ford, to discuss the current automotive market landscape, focusing on two key topics:
1. Impact of New Car Tariffs
Cherokee provided valuable insight into how recent tariffs on imported auto parts and vehicles are affecting both pricing and availability in the showroom. Key takeaways include:
-
Tariffs are driving incremental price increases, especially for models reliant on imported components.
-
Some consumers are opting to buy sooner rather than later to avoid potential future price hikes.
-
Leasing programs and incentives are helping offset the rising costs in the short term.
2. Current Ford Deals
Cherokee also highlighted June promotions at Mahwah Ford, which include:
-
0% financing offers on select F-150 and Escape models.
-
Cash rebates and loyalty incentives for returning Ford customers.
-
Strong trade-in values, especially for used trucks and SUVs due to high demand in the pre-owned market.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ron Anian got to repair as a national trend with
regional results, and the culture is regional.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The Car doctor birthday.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
It's probably a charging system issue where the charging system
voltage isn't right. So right now you're running off the battery.
You're kind of like the Starship Enterprise. When the warp
drive goes out, you're now running on impulse power.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I checked the engines the warp drive. That's a hopeless
pilot junk. Welcome to the radio home of ron Ananian,
the Car Doctor. Since nineteen ninety one. This is where
car owners the world overturned to for their definitive opinion
on automotive repair. If your mechanics giving you a busy signal,
pick up the phone and call in. The garage doors.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Are open, but I am here to take your call
at eight five five five six ninety nine hundred and now.
He running the automobile plays such a big part of
the economy. I think it teeter totters back and forth
between the second and the third most expensive purchase you're
(01:07):
going to make in a lifetime and deal with in
a lifetime, and it's always fun to talk about. We've
had him back now a couple of times. We're always
glad to talk to him. He's our guy on the
ground in the automobile industry. Cherokee Hart, he's the business
manager at Mawall four, obviously in Mahwah, New Jersey. Cherokee,
Welcome back to the car Doctor.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Thank you very much for having.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Me so right off the bat, how's business.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Well, hasn't exactly been off the charts, but it's consistent,
you know.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Right, So, and you know you got to make hay
while the sun shines, and you'll have busy weeks and
slow weeks. And I think I think this year, you,
like a lot of other car dealers, are in that
everybody's kind of focusing on high school graduations and college
graduations and and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Right absolutely, And then you know, the thing's going on
in the economy as well, right changes the temple of
the business.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So, and there's a great segue, Thank you so much.
Tariffs it's on everybody's mind. I can't tell you how
many times at the counter somebody starts, you know, should
I buy my battery now or should I buy it
in six months? Will the tariffs affect it? Will this
affect it? And then tariffs on the automobiles. How has
that you know, can you speak to how has that
(02:19):
affected the industry and then specifically how has it if
it has affected Ford.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
So it has affected and will continue to affect the
industry itself. Starting on May second, of course, the terriffs
went into the effect. There are some manufacturers that saying
that they're going to be able to absorb the majority
of the terrors and not pass it on to their customers.
But in some ways, should our form, it will get
(02:47):
passed on eventually. There's no way just to you know,
eat on the expenses over time. But one of the
things that we do know is that with Ford, the Machi,
the Maverick, and the Broncos Sport will see a slight
increase in pricing, which is up to possibly two thousand
(03:08):
dollars to the MSRP. However, Ford is starting to absorb
most of the terraffs that are being put on their vehicles,
and the.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Terrafs are affecting vehicles. It's affecting vehicles made outside of
the United States.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Correct, Yes, Basically, you have kind of a system where
vehicles come into the US to get certain parts and
things assembled. Then they may go up to Canada or
to Mexico to get other parts assembled there and they
come back into the US because the US do not
(03:47):
produce every single part of a vehicle. You have some
parts that come from China, you have some parts that
come from Korea, Canada, Mexico. As we know, so the
parts of the vehicles are coming from so many different places.
There are thousands of parts that go into building one vehicle,
right sure, Therefore they're coming from so many different places.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
How has I don't know if you'll if you'll know
this answer, but you know, just mawaf Ford alone, as
big as they are, they've been there forever, very well known,
you know, family dealership in North Jersey. Yeah, how has
the terriffs affected ability to get parts? In general? Are
they do? You know if the parts department is struggling.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
The parts department has not seen the full effect just
yet of the terriffs, but they most definitely are bracing forward.
So of course we order as many parts as we
could that are regular parts that we would have shipped
from outside the country. So you get as many parts
as you know that ship from outside the country here
and you just hope and pray that you know, the
(04:54):
business doesn't slow down too much. But we've not been
affected too heavily just yet because it just kind of
started at the beginning of the month.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Do you think that the tariffs have slowed down parts
deliveries are? Do you think that some of the vendors
are playing the game of well, if I wait a
little bit longer, I may be able to charge more
for this part. Do you think that's come into it yet.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, I think that always plays into the parts manager's
hands because they have to keep pricing consistent, right, So
if they're going to get here with tariffs as soon
as it starts, I'm quite sure the majority of the
folks in the industry are going to go ahead and
set the parts for the future, not just for now,
but also for the future. That way, it stays pretty
(05:38):
consistent across the boards. But parts business is doing pretty
well considering the things that are going on.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And I've got to say it affects you know, it's
affecting everybody, you know, the independent shops, myself, a lot
of the guys around me as we talk. You know
that oil filter that you bought on Monday, By Tuesday,
they have gone up three percent by Wednesday, five percent,
and by Thursday, you're going, holy cow, it costs me
double what it cost me on Monday. And it's happened
(06:09):
a few times, and it's a it's a tough option
to deal with. You're always looking at pricing, I will
say that, so you know that that becomes a big issue.
Let's talk about if we can. Let's talk about I'm
out here, I want to buy a new car or
a used car, and I'm going to come in and
I want to get I don't know if my credit's
(06:30):
any good. What has the credit process changed? You know,
the industry is so upside down right now. Has the
credit gotten more stringent? We're the interest rates right now,
Let's start the conversation there. If I'm coming in to
buy a new car, finance it through Ford, what's the
interest rate?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Interest rates right now are depending on certain models. Certain
models forward to have an interest rate for short term
financing as well as one point nine, which is something
we have not seen for long, and it's been a while.
The banking industry is starting to bounce backwards, starting to
see rates in the five percent and every blue moon,
(07:08):
you have a certain you know, credit union or something
for for municipal employees that maybe in the fource that's ridiculous.
But it's great to see that the financial industry is
starting to bounce back with interest rates a lot stronger
than what it has been over the last several years,
(07:28):
even though for the most part it's not been very
much movement and the interest rate reductions what with the
you know government, right, So.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Do you see you know, what's the approval rate right now?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
You know? Are you know?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Is it is it? Are we seeing seventy percent get approved,
eighty percent can approve, fifty percent get approved?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
You know?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Is the And that's always a sign of the economy, right,
How good is everybody's credit? If you were to guess
and put a number on it, what's the percentage.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Majority of the folks that come into buy a car
are going to get approved as long as you have
a decent down payment credit history. I've seen credit scores
as low as a five point fifty five forty h
be you know, approved with a car because they have
a right cash down and they have a decent job history.
People go through struggles. Banks understand that, and we have
(08:22):
select banks that specialize with you know, bad credit or
or I say challenged credit, and they just continue to
build the person's profile based off of their down payment,
their job history, how long they've been able to hold,
you know, a credit card for so long in decent
(08:44):
you know, payment history, even though they have late payments
over the last year, have they been consistent and the little.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
They look at that. So, if I'm thinking of buying
a car in six months, am I better off buying
that car now?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
I would say most definitely. Now, if you're buying a
new car, it's the best time to buy it right now.
Why Well, majority of the cars that in inventory right now,
that are in the inventory right now, they have not
had the terrors applied to them. So if you're looking
for that Machi, the Maverick, the Broncos Sport, those are
(09:21):
the three cars for Ford that are going to be
going up for sure. However, all across the boards, majority
of the inventory that are in the dealer's inventories right
now are not you slap with tariffs. So therefore, now
is a good time to purchase a vehicle. And I
(09:43):
would most definitely say instead of sitting on it, if
you have the ability to do it, go ahead and
buy now.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
If I'm leasing the car. I'll tell you what. Let's
blow over, take a pause. When we come back, I
want to talk about if I'm leasing a car and
I've got six months to go before my lease expires,
I want to talk about, is is it worthwhile for
me to have that conversation with my dealer because will
they get me out of the lease early? Don't don't
give us the answer yet. Let's come back to it.
I'm Ron an Aye and the car Doctor. I'm here
(10:09):
with Cherokee. Hardy's the business manager over at Mawa Ford
in New Jersey, and we're talking about tariffs, cars and
everything in between. We'll both return right after this. Don't
go away.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
When you get keep Ron's number Handy eight five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero for when you
really need advice on your car.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Here's Rober. So you're thinking of getting out of your
lease early? Hi, Ron and nadying of the car doctor. Yep,
I'm still here and I'm here with Cherokee Heart of
mawaw Ford. We're talking about cars and tariffs and all
comments and points in between. When we left and pulled
over and took the pause, we were talking about leasing
and when you lease a vehicle, your your lease comes
to an end, you lease for two and a half
(11:25):
years or three years or whatever the leaf cycle is.
And if your lease ends early, is there a way
to get at or if you want it to end early? Cherokee.
If I'm leasing a car and it's a three year
cycle or two and a half year cycle, is there
a bigger advantage now than previously or is it the same?
Are there still obstacles in place? If I want to
get out of that lease early? Can I does it
(11:47):
pay for me to go talk to my dealer.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
If you're several months within the time of your lease
being up, I must definitely say that it's a good
time to go in and inquire. Ford has summer aggressive
rebents out there to retain customers, especially for like the
Ford Escape. If you're already leasing a Ford Escape, or
even for the F one City, they have aggressive rebase
(12:12):
retaining customers bringing them back in that starts anywhere from
three to six months out ahead of the lease being due.
Almost definitely, I do say that see the dealer and
leasing right now is for Ford it has probably been
most aggressive as it's been in the last two or
three years.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Give me, give me it. Give us a number I
want to come in and buy. I want to commit
and buy a new Mustang, a basic Mustang, nothing too crazy,
a V six automatic transportation. You know, is there is
there a least number you can give us? What's the rate?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Well, I would tell you this on a Mustang, they're
not the best vehicles to please. Okay, I would most
definitely say finance that instead. However, if you were to
take a look at.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Now, that's its way back up a second. Why do
you say that?
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Well, believe it or not, the Mustang's residuals are a
little bit lower than the regular vehicles because that's a
sporty ride, right right, it's a performance car. So the
leasing on those you typically don't have as strong as
an incentive to lease a Mustang. Whenever people do lease
those cars, and this is a rule of thumb, they
(13:23):
use and abuse those cars for three years and then
hand forward to back of keys and say whatever I've
left you with, I've left you with, and the vehicle
may not have been taken good care of. So the
leases on a Mustang are typically very few and far between.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Interesting. So you're saying, if I was going to commit
and I'm looking for transportation. You know, I'm a family
of three or four and I need a small family
vehicle and I need to lease. What am I going
to lease?
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I'm going to bring you right over to a Foard Escape.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
It's great for a family, you have a family of
three or four. You can fit a car seat in
it pretty well, is very gas efficient, and the payments
on them are pretty good as well, average payments these days.
Whenever you put down your taxes first payment and a
few thousand dollars down, you can get a decent payment
(14:15):
between four to five hundred dollars with the Fordeskid.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
So will the tariffs as they pile on? Will the
tariffs effect lease rates as well as the overall purchase
price of the car?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah? So, whenever you're leasing the vehicle, depending on the
money factor. For the most part, whenever you lease a vehicle,
every thousand is different than purchase of a vehicle, which
on average would say seventeen to twenty dollars. Well, on
a lease every thousand is closer to twenty seven to
(14:50):
thirty two dollars per thousand. That spread per thousand is
going to bump up your payments roughly thirty dollars a month.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Has how has leasing change off the top of your
head in the last three years. Is it more expensive
now than it was three years ago?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Oh well, it's changed by almost two to three hundred
dollars on a car now is three years ago?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Is that economy related, tariff related, general cost of doing
business related? If you're gonna put your finger on it,
what would you say?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
It was all of the above. When COVID hit, it
put the automotive market in a buying and from that
point forward it put the economy in a buying, which
put production in the cost of vehicles at an all
time high. And if you go back and look at
the history from twenty nineteen orhould I say, from twenty
(15:43):
twenty to twenty twenty four, there's roughly about a thirty
three percent increase in automobiles from that time. And that's
something that we haven't seen. It's been pretty steady across
the years, but then all of a sudden twenty twenty
twenty one, twenty two, twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four.
Through that time is a thirty three percent increase in
(16:07):
cost of the vehicles.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So how critical is the automobile industry to the American economy.
If you were going to put a percentage on it,
where where where do we say? Are we second or
third biggest expense?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Is that a safe Is that a safe statement?
Speaker 3 (16:20):
I would say that's about the second biggest expense. Think
about this. There's profinitely about seventy six billion cars that
were transported between Canada and Mexico. All right, seventy six
billion dollars worth of cars that's just between Canada and Mexico,
not including here in the US. And then about one
(16:42):
hundred and two billion dollars in auto parts that was,
you know, ship between those two countries to the US.
So I would pretty much say that the automotive industry
overall is probably one of the most important sectors sectors
to the American economy. Wow, you know, And most definitely
(17:05):
it is the second most largest expense that most people
are going to have in our lives, second to their home.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Well, hey, listen real quick. In the last minute and
a half, roughly, I've got twenty grand in my pocket.
I want to come in and buy a used car.
Is that a good number to start with?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Twenty grand is pretty good number. To start with, you're
probably looking at somewhere between a four to five year
old vehicle, and you can find them pretty good miles
under fifty thousand miles. And you can also venture out
to add a mechanical plan to protect the vehicle as well,
so that you're not having to come out of pocket
unexpected expenses.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So I've got I've got a ten twelve year old car.
It needs six thousand dollars in repair, eight thousand dollars
in repair. But and I've got the eight thousand dollars.
Am I better off buying that buying a used car
for twenty put the eight thousand down in finance? Twelve?
Rough numbers?
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Absolutely, because nine times out of ten, if a car
is that old, it may not be worth the money
that you're going to be putting in it.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Right, and then there's always that that part's issue. So
and that that kind of leads us back to where
we started this conversation. So, Cherokee, if the listeners want
more information, give us the website.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Mawatford dot com. Cool I have a say email, we'll be.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Having toil and if they want to come in and
see you in person, I know they'll see you. You're
the guy with the beard. Yeah, all right, hey listen,
say hi to everybody for me, and thanks for being
part of the show today. I'm ronning any and the
Car Doctor. We're back right after this
Ron Anian got to repair as a national trend with
regional results, and the culture is regional.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The Car doctor birthday.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
It's probably a charging system issue where the charging system
voltage isn't right. So right now you're running off the battery.
You're kind of like the Starship Enterprise. When the warp
drive goes out, you're now running on impulse power.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I checked the engines the warp drive. That's a hopeless
pilot junk. Welcome to the radio home of ron Ananian,
the Car Doctor. Since nineteen ninety one. This is where
car owners the world overturned to for their definitive opinion
on automotive repair. If your mechanics giving you a busy signal,
pick up the phone and call in. The garage doors.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Are open, but I am here to take your call
at eight five five five six ninety nine hundred and now.
He running the automobile plays such a big part of
the economy. I think it teeter totters back and forth
between the second and the third most expensive purchase you're
(01:07):
going to make in a lifetime and deal with in
a lifetime, and it's always fun to talk about. We've
had him back now a couple of times. We're always
glad to talk to him. He's our guy on the
ground in the automobile industry. Cherokee Hart, he's the business
manager at Mawall four, obviously in Mahwah, New Jersey. Cherokee,
Welcome back to the car Doctor.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Thank you very much for having.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Me so right off the bat, how's business.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Well, hasn't exactly been off the charts, but it's consistent,
you know.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Right, So, and you know you got to make hay
while the sun shines, and you'll have busy weeks and
slow weeks. And I think I think this year, you,
like a lot of other car dealers, are in that
everybody's kind of focusing on high school graduations and college
graduations and and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Right absolutely, And then you know, the thing's going on
in the economy as well, right changes the temple of
the business.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So, and there's a great segue, Thank you so much.
Tariffs it's on everybody's mind. I can't tell you how
many times at the counter somebody starts, you know, should
I buy my battery now or should I buy it
in six months? Will the tariffs affect it? Will this
affect it? And then tariffs on the automobiles. How has
that you know, can you speak to how has that
(02:19):
affected the industry and then specifically how has it if
it has affected Ford.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
So it has affected and will continue to affect the
industry itself. Starting on May second, of course, the terriffs
went into the effect. There are some manufacturers that saying
that they're going to be able to absorb the majority
of the terrors and not pass it on to their customers.
But in some ways, should our form, it will get
(02:47):
passed on eventually. There's no way just to you know,
eat on the expenses over time. But one of the
things that we do know is that with Ford, the Machi,
the Maverick, and the Broncos Sport will see a slight
increase in pricing, which is up to possibly two thousand
(03:08):
dollars to the MSRP. However, Ford is starting to absorb
most of the terraffs that are being put on their vehicles,
and the.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Terrafs are affecting vehicles. It's affecting vehicles made outside of
the United States.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Correct, Yes, Basically, you have kind of a system where
vehicles come into the US to get certain parts and
things assembled. Then they may go up to Canada or
to Mexico to get other parts assembled there and they
come back into the US because the US do not
(03:47):
produce every single part of a vehicle. You have some
parts that come from China, you have some parts that
come from Korea, Canada, Mexico. As we know, so the
parts of the vehicles are coming from so many different places.
There are thousands of parts that go into building one vehicle,
right sure, Therefore they're coming from so many different places.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
How has I don't know if you'll if you'll know
this answer, but you know, just mawaf Ford alone, as
big as they are, they've been there forever, very well known,
you know, family dealership in North Jersey. Yeah, how has
the terriffs affected ability to get parts? In general? Are
they do? You know if the parts department is struggling.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
The parts department has not seen the full effect just
yet of the terriffs, but they most definitely are bracing forward.
So of course we order as many parts as we
could that are regular parts that we would have shipped
from outside the country. So you get as many parts
as you know that ship from outside the country here
and you just hope and pray that you know, the
(04:54):
business doesn't slow down too much. But we've not been
affected too heavily just yet because it just kind of
started at the beginning of the month.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Do you think that the tariffs have slowed down parts
deliveries are? Do you think that some of the vendors
are playing the game of well, if I wait a
little bit longer, I may be able to charge more
for this part. Do you think that's come into it yet.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, I think that always plays into the parts manager's
hands because they have to keep pricing consistent, right, So
if they're going to get here with tariffs as soon
as it starts, I'm quite sure the majority of the
folks in the industry are going to go ahead and
set the parts for the future, not just for now,
but also for the future. That way, it stays pretty
(05:38):
consistent across the boards. But parts business is doing pretty
well considering the things that are going on.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And I've got to say it affects you know, it's
affecting everybody, you know, the independent shops, myself, a lot
of the guys around me as we talk. You know
that oil filter that you bought on Monday, By Tuesday,
they have gone up three percent by Wednesday, five percent,
and by Thursday, you're going, holy cow, it costs me
double what it cost me on Monday. And it's happened
(06:09):
a few times, and it's a it's a tough option
to deal with. You're always looking at pricing, I will
say that, so you know that that becomes a big issue.
Let's talk about if we can. Let's talk about I'm
out here, I want to buy a new car or
a used car, and I'm going to come in and
I want to get I don't know if my credit's
(06:30):
any good. What has the credit process changed? You know,
the industry is so upside down right now. Has the
credit gotten more stringent? We're the interest rates right now,
Let's start the conversation there. If I'm coming in to
buy a new car, finance it through Ford, what's the
interest rate?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Interest rates right now are depending on certain models. Certain
models forward to have an interest rate for short term
financing as well as one point nine, which is something
we have not seen for long, and it's been a while.
The banking industry is starting to bounce backwards, starting to
see rates in the five percent and every blue moon,
(07:08):
you have a certain you know, credit union or something
for for municipal employees that maybe in the fource that's ridiculous.
But it's great to see that the financial industry is
starting to bounce back with interest rates a lot stronger
than what it has been over the last several years,
(07:28):
even though for the most part it's not been very
much movement and the interest rate reductions what with the
you know government, right, So.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Do you see you know, what's the approval rate right now?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
You know? Are you know?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Is it is it? Are we seeing seventy percent get approved,
eighty percent can approve, fifty percent get approved?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
You know?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Is the And that's always a sign of the economy, right,
How good is everybody's credit? If you were to guess
and put a number on it, what's the percentage.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Majority of the folks that come into buy a car
are going to get approved as long as you have
a decent down payment credit history. I've seen credit scores
as low as a five point fifty five forty h
be you know, approved with a car because they have
a right cash down and they have a decent job history.
People go through struggles. Banks understand that, and we have
(08:22):
select banks that specialize with you know, bad credit or
or I say challenged credit, and they just continue to
build the person's profile based off of their down payment,
their job history, how long they've been able to hold,
you know, a credit card for so long in decent
(08:44):
you know, payment history, even though they have late payments
over the last year, have they been consistent and the little.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
They look at that. So, if I'm thinking of buying
a car in six months, am I better off buying
that car now?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
I would say most definitely. Now, if you're buying a
new car, it's the best time to buy it right now.
Why Well, majority of the cars that in inventory right now,
that are in the inventory right now, they have not
had the terrors applied to them. So if you're looking
for that Machi, the Maverick, the Broncos Sport, those are
(09:21):
the three cars for Ford that are going to be
going up for sure. However, all across the boards, majority
of the inventory that are in the dealer's inventories right
now are not you slap with tariffs. So therefore, now
is a good time to purchase a vehicle. And I
(09:43):
would most definitely say instead of sitting on it, if
you have the ability to do it, go ahead and
buy now.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
If I'm leasing the car. I'll tell you what. Let's
blow over, take a pause. When we come back, I
want to talk about if I'm leasing a car and
I've got six months to go before my lease expires,
I want to talk about, is is it worthwhile for
me to have that conversation with my dealer because will
they get me out of the lease early? Don't don't
give us the answer yet. Let's come back to it.
I'm Ron an Aye and the car Doctor. I'm here
(10:09):
with Cherokee. Hardy's the business manager over at Mawa Ford
in New Jersey, and we're talking about tariffs, cars and
everything in between. We'll both return right after this. Don't
go away.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
When you get keep Ron's number Handy eight five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero for when you
really need advice on your car.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Here's Rober. So you're thinking of getting out of your
lease early? Hi, Ron and nadying of the car doctor. Yep,
I'm still here and I'm here with Cherokee Heart of
mawaw Ford. We're talking about cars and tariffs and all
comments and points in between. When we left and pulled
over and took the pause, we were talking about leasing
and when you lease a vehicle, your your lease comes
to an end, you lease for two and a half
(11:25):
years or three years or whatever the leaf cycle is.
And if your lease ends early, is there a way
to get at or if you want it to end early? Cherokee.
If I'm leasing a car and it's a three year
cycle or two and a half year cycle, is there
a bigger advantage now than previously or is it the same?
Are there still obstacles in place? If I want to
get out of that lease early? Can I does it
(11:47):
pay for me to go talk to my dealer.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
If you're several months within the time of your lease
being up, I must definitely say that it's a good
time to go in and inquire. Ford has summer aggressive
rebents out there to retain customers, especially for like the
Ford Escape. If you're already leasing a Ford Escape, or
even for the F one City, they have aggressive rebase
(12:12):
retaining customers bringing them back in that starts anywhere from
three to six months out ahead of the lease being due.
Almost definitely, I do say that see the dealer and
leasing right now is for Ford it has probably been
most aggressive as it's been in the last two or
three years.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Give me, give me it. Give us a number I
want to come in and buy. I want to commit
and buy a new Mustang, a basic Mustang, nothing too crazy,
a V six automatic transportation. You know, is there is
there a least number you can give us? What's the rate?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Well, I would tell you this on a Mustang, they're
not the best vehicles to please. Okay, I would most
definitely say finance that instead. However, if you were to
take a look at.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Now, that's its way back up a second. Why do
you say that?
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Well, believe it or not, the Mustang's residuals are a
little bit lower than the regular vehicles because that's a
sporty ride, right right, it's a performance car. So the
leasing on those you typically don't have as strong as
an incentive to lease a Mustang. Whenever people do lease
those cars, and this is a rule of thumb, they
(13:23):
use and abuse those cars for three years and then
hand forward to back of keys and say whatever I've
left you with, I've left you with, and the vehicle
may not have been taken good care of. So the
leases on a Mustang are typically very few and far between.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Interesting. So you're saying, if I was going to commit
and I'm looking for transportation. You know, I'm a family
of three or four and I need a small family
vehicle and I need to lease. What am I going
to lease?
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I'm going to bring you right over to a Foard Escape.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
It's great for a family, you have a family of
three or four. You can fit a car seat in
it pretty well, is very gas efficient, and the payments
on them are pretty good as well, average payments these days.
Whenever you put down your taxes first payment and a
few thousand dollars down, you can get a decent payment
(14:15):
between four to five hundred dollars with the Fordeskid.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
So will the tariffs as they pile on? Will the
tariffs effect lease rates as well as the overall purchase
price of the car?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah? So, whenever you're leasing the vehicle, depending on the
money factor. For the most part, whenever you lease a vehicle,
every thousand is different than purchase of a vehicle, which
on average would say seventeen to twenty dollars. Well, on
a lease every thousand is closer to twenty seven to
(14:50):
thirty two dollars per thousand. That spread per thousand is
going to bump up your payments roughly thirty dollars a month.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Has how has leasing change off the top of your
head in the last three years. Is it more expensive
now than it was three years ago?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Oh well, it's changed by almost two to three hundred
dollars on a car now is three years ago?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Is that economy related, tariff related, general cost of doing
business related? If you're gonna put your finger on it,
what would you say?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
It was all of the above. When COVID hit, it
put the automotive market in a buying and from that
point forward it put the economy in a buying, which
put production in the cost of vehicles at an all
time high. And if you go back and look at
the history from twenty nineteen orhould I say, from twenty
(15:43):
twenty to twenty twenty four, there's roughly about a thirty
three percent increase in automobiles from that time. And that's
something that we haven't seen. It's been pretty steady across
the years, but then all of a sudden twenty twenty
twenty one, twenty two, twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four.
Through that time is a thirty three percent increase in
(16:07):
cost of the vehicles.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So how critical is the automobile industry to the American economy.
If you were going to put a percentage on it,
where where where do we say? Are we second or
third biggest expense?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Is that a safe Is that a safe statement?
Speaker 3 (16:20):
I would say that's about the second biggest expense. Think
about this. There's profinitely about seventy six billion cars that
were transported between Canada and Mexico. All right, seventy six
billion dollars worth of cars that's just between Canada and Mexico,
not including here in the US. And then about one
(16:42):
hundred and two billion dollars in auto parts that was,
you know, ship between those two countries to the US.
So I would pretty much say that the automotive industry
overall is probably one of the most important sectors sectors
to the American economy. Wow, you know, And most definitely
(17:05):
it is the second most largest expense that most people
are going to have in our lives, second to their home.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Well, hey, listen real quick. In the last minute and
a half, roughly, I've got twenty grand in my pocket.
I want to come in and buy a used car.
Is that a good number to start with?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Twenty grand is pretty good number. To start with, you're
probably looking at somewhere between a four to five year
old vehicle, and you can find them pretty good miles
under fifty thousand miles. And you can also venture out
to add a mechanical plan to protect the vehicle as well,
so that you're not having to come out of pocket
unexpected expenses.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So I've got I've got a ten twelve year old car.
It needs six thousand dollars in repair, eight thousand dollars
in repair. But and I've got the eight thousand dollars.
Am I better off buying that buying a used car
for twenty put the eight thousand down in finance? Twelve?
Rough numbers?
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Absolutely, because nine times out of ten, if a car
is that old, it may not be worth the money
that you're going to be putting in it.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Right, and then there's always that that part's issue. So
and that that kind of leads us back to where
we started this conversation. So, Cherokee, if the listeners want
more information, give us the website.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Mawatford dot com. Cool I have a say email, we'll be.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Having toil and if they want to come in and
see you in person, I know they'll see you. You're
the guy with the beard. Yeah, all right, hey listen,
say hi to everybody for me, and thanks for being
part of the show today. I'm ronning any and the
Car Doctor. We're back right after this
Host
Ron Ananian
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