The Troubleshooter 8-15-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, ripped up, so you don't have come running just
as nast as we can.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Shooter's gonna help come.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Man Dix is the Troubleshooter Show.

Speaker 4 (00:22):
No, Tom Martinez, Hey, hey, hey, welcome to the show.
I'm at the Mothership today, not the home satellite studio,
at the Mothership with Kevin Coughin and Jeff Vic. Frankly,
I'm coming here because I didn't want him in my home. No,
I'm just kidding. And Deputy Docks on board. So if
you're streaming, you'll see the wide shot the whole show,

(00:43):
and uh, welcome. We're talking cars today. Today is car Day.
It's Friday. We'll talk cars, but we'll also talk, of course,
anything on your mind and your heart and having to
do with your pocketbook, of course. And I want to
ask these guys, have you ever ad bad reviews from
someone who's never actually even been a customer?

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (01:06):
Yeah, most definitely.

Speaker 6 (01:07):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
Isn't that weird?

Speaker 5 (01:09):
It's usually it's usually a competitor.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
That's right, Yeah, it is. Yeah, Or someone calls up.
You know, you might answer the phone and put them
on holder. There might be something I will never use this.
And some of them pretend they were customers. Revenge reviews
are a big deal, and fake reviews now, revenge reviews
will be bad reviews against someone and fake reviews of

(01:33):
just fake.

Speaker 5 (01:34):
I've actually had people threaten fake reviews for discounts.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
Oh man, see this pisses me off, this whole thing.
Let's go to Matt. He wants to talk about some
auto parts and uh, Matt, let's see. Let me go
down here and find you. Uh you called in yesterday.
I don't remember it. Tell me tell me about this, Matt.
I don't have it down here. Go ahead, Matt. Oh,

(01:58):
let me see where you are there? You okay, yeah, Matt,
go ahead.

Speaker 6 (02:04):
Okay.

Speaker 7 (02:04):
I called like two weeks ago about a part I
got from O'Reilly's that caught some damage.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
Oh okay, okay, I remember this is the one, but
it's like five thousand in damage. Right, And this was
with honest accurate Auto. That I mean, they didn't do it,
but they they looked at your installation, reinstalled it to
make sure they can't blame installation. And in fact, they
reinstalled it several times and said there's something wrong with it.
Is that right? That's correct? Now, with honest accurate Auto,

(02:33):
we wanted to talk to Jesse about this because explain
to my guys right now what part it was. I'm
looking for your call and I'll find it, but would
you explain to them what's going on with it?

Speaker 8 (02:48):
Sure?

Speaker 7 (02:48):
So it was the passenger side front CV axle cars,
all wheel drive.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Basically.

Speaker 7 (02:55):
The what Honest Accurate found is that the actual itself
was the machine correctly, so like right kind of by
where the splines where it goes into the transfer case.
The edge was super sharp and was just tearing up
the seals inside the transfer case.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
And okay, does that make sense to you guys hearing that?

Speaker 9 (03:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (03:12):
Absolutely, okay.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
So Honest Accurate said, look, it did a lot of damage.
There's nothing wrong with the installation. So now we're looking
at fifty one hundred damages and I said, you might
want to try small claims. Court Mark gave him some
advice on that. But the part was faulty. The repair
bill was fifty one hundred. Can you guys see a

(03:36):
repair build being that high from that?

Speaker 6 (03:37):
If we had to replace the transfer case?

Speaker 7 (03:39):
Sure, well, they pulled it and resealed it, so most
of that costed labor.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
Sure, so they didn't even go the extra expense. They
tried to do it reasonably, reasonably, So I how did
we leave it when you called yesterday? I'm sorry, I
don't have any The only notes I have here is
we were going to try to get Jesse on. They
say that.

Speaker 7 (04:02):
That's where I got left on hold. They told me
that they'd call me back today when you had some experts.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
Okay on, is Jesse available Kachina from honest Accurate Auto? Okay,
try to get them on. I'll put them on hold,
thank you.

Speaker 6 (04:14):
The biggest problem with that ton the warranty on the
invoice very specifically talks about consequential damages.

Speaker 10 (04:21):
It.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
Oh, it says, what does this say?

Speaker 6 (04:24):
Actually none, there are no no warranty for consequence of
The only warranty is that cost of the part.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
No, that's from the warranty company.

Speaker 6 (04:31):
But that's from the parts store.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
Oh yes, Oh, they're not gonna They're not gonna this part. Basically,
it says, if this part causes damage to other parts,
will take care of this part, but we're not taking
care of anything else.

Speaker 6 (04:45):
Correct.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
If that's the case, Matt, and you agree to it,
that's going to be a pain in the ass.

Speaker 6 (04:50):
Because we go through it every once in a while,
you know, when we buy parts as well.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
Teresa, hold on, I still want to get honest, accurate
on and then maybe this guy gives it a shot
in small claims Teresa, Yes, Hi, what's happening?

Speaker 11 (05:05):
Hie? Well, I live in a HUD building, well disabled?

Speaker 4 (05:15):
Okay, So your rent is being subsidized, right?

Speaker 12 (05:20):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (05:20):
How much do they pay for your rent? All of
it or suppose some of it?

Speaker 3 (05:25):
For me? Almost all of it?

Speaker 4 (05:27):
Okay? And so what's going on?

Speaker 11 (05:31):
Well, they're, among other things, they're fraudulently charging people.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
More rent than they're supposed to.

Speaker 11 (05:38):
And they're they're calculating my rent illegally.

Speaker 4 (05:43):
Now, hold on, hold on, they're calculating it illegally. There's
no such thing. It might be fraudulent, but there's no law.
That's okay, I'm not going to get into it. Tell
me exactly how are they calculating it? Where you disagree?
Tell me that part.

Speaker 11 (06:01):
So they are legally allowed to take thirty percent of
our allowable income as rent?

Speaker 4 (06:09):
How much? And now that's from you personally, and then
the government pays the rest or what is what? Tell
me about it?

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yes, exactly, And you're you're.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
Saying that they're they're doing it wrong. What are they
doing wrong?

Speaker 11 (06:25):
Well, for me, they're using an amount that's not income
and basing it on that. For other people, they're charging
them over thirty percent because maybe they got a better apartment.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
Okay, and now now that that is something, I mean,
they're supposed to charge the tenants their part, and their
part has to be calculated accurately, and the amount tell
me the So they're they're imputing more income to you,
not less right, They're trying to say you make more
than you actually do. Yes, and tell me what they're

(07:03):
counting on you. They're calling income and you don't agree.

Speaker 11 (07:08):
Well, I'm a student and I get grants and scholarships
and students.

Speaker 4 (07:14):
Well, may I ask how old you are?

Speaker 11 (07:17):
Sixty two?

Speaker 4 (07:18):
Okay? So what are you studying right now? God love you? Security?
What what are you studying?

Speaker 13 (07:24):
Fiber security?

Speaker 4 (07:25):
No, no fooling. So are you a technical geek?

Speaker 11 (07:30):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (07:32):
Okay? So the building who is actually doing the calculating
of your income?

Speaker 11 (07:38):
The management?

Speaker 4 (07:39):
And what are they counting as income?

Speaker 11 (07:43):
They're counting the form I gave them. They're counting my
allowable expenses for college as income.

Speaker 4 (07:52):
Well, that's just a mistake. That's not I mean, that's stupid.

Speaker 5 (07:56):
I mean, you're you're.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
Right, And how do you know that out?

Speaker 11 (08:00):
And they won't do anything?

Speaker 4 (08:02):
Well, how did you even know? How did you even
know this? Like? How did you know that they were
taking your expenses and calling them income? Did you look
at some kind of worksheet they have.

Speaker 11 (08:16):
Exactly?

Speaker 5 (08:17):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (08:17):
How did you get a hold of that?

Speaker 11 (08:20):
I requested it?

Speaker 4 (08:21):
Okay, so they actually gave you.

Speaker 11 (08:23):
Automatically, but I had to request it.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
Well, okay, so they gave you a worksheet and in
it you see where they're showing your expenses as income. Yes,
now here's what might be happening. I'm going to tell
you just hang on. I have an idea of what's happening,
because I don't think anyone's going to be that stupid

(08:46):
to do that on purpose. I'm Tom Martine. After this,
go with a sure thing Denver's Best roofer Excel roofing
dot com. You don't pay a cent until your content
wait time for an insurance check up free no obligation
comparison call Compass insurance paying too much your coverage at

(09:08):
dozens of insurance companies find out now three oh three
seven seven to one. Help. You'll think you're his only
customer when you choose Frank durand the real estate man
dot com to list your home with Remax Alliance three
oh three nine two zero sixteen twenty two. Hi, Tom Martino,
waterpros dot net. The best water systems, the lowest prices.

(09:29):
You ought to look them up on YouTube. He has
a lot of informative and TikTok a lot of informative
videos about water. So it's Paul thewatermanwaterpros dot net and
it's eight six two five five five four three oh
three A six two five five five four. Ah, let's
continue now. She says that they're inaccurately she called it illegally.

(09:56):
She's they're inaccurately figuring her income to judge how much
she pays because they can only charge a certain percentage
of their income, and she thinks they have a vested
interest in keeping the income high, and that's why they
are miscalculating. I think it's an honest mistake, or it's

(10:18):
not a mistake. But here's what I think is happening.
Listen carefully, Okay. When you apply for a loan or
you apply for anything. There are some deductions from your
income they take in some they don't. I think that
they're not accepting your expenses as expenses that they count.

(10:44):
In other words, they're not allowable expenses. Therefore they take
that amount and add it back into your income. That
is the most logical thing. For example, if you're applying
for Medicaid and they say what expenses do you have?
Let's say your income is under the amount is right
where it needs to be to get Medicaid, but you're

(11:07):
showing some expenses like and I'm giving an exaggerated example,
like a health club membership. Well, then the people at
Medicaid say, wait a minute, you're making this much a month.
But if we add back in that deduction you took
for the healthcare, you're over the amount. So I think
what they're doing, Teresa is not accepting your college expenses

(11:29):
or your training expenses. They're not accepting it as a
legitimate expense. Could that be it? In other words, unless
they just exit out completely and actually show that line
item college expenses as income, I don't know what they're doing.
I'd like to look at your statement. Do you have

(11:50):
a can you email or text that to us?

Speaker 11 (11:53):
I can't do it right now. I can do it
later and maybe we could talk on a different data.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
Yeah, let's do that. I want, I'll look in it.

Speaker 11 (12:02):
I think you're completely off.

Speaker 14 (12:03):
Base because, like I said, no, go ahead.

Speaker 11 (12:05):
Bright gave her the form. I explained it to her
and she circled an amount, and she's totally off She's
totally wrong.

Speaker 4 (12:12):
Well, what do you mean I'm off base? Don't you
think it's possible that they are not allowing that expense
to be taken off your income? So to you, no, and.

Speaker 11 (12:24):
Why is that that's not the case? Tell me why
the situation is is that the previous year they accepted
that as as basically they call me zero income because
I have no credible income. But this year they decided.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
They wanted to look further.

Speaker 11 (12:44):
And they I gave them my tax for my ten
ninety eight that said the amount of allowable expenses I
have for college, and they called that income.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
It's not income.

Speaker 11 (12:55):
The actual income for six months was eighty three dollars
and they're.

Speaker 15 (13:00):
Calling it like four.

Speaker 11 (13:01):
Thousand and five.

Speaker 4 (13:03):
What difference does it make? Right now? Is what I'm asking, like,
if you're being if you're being paid your subsidized rent.
Tell me how this miscalculation is affecting you.

Speaker 11 (13:17):
Well, my rent is supposed to be twenty five.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
Dollars a month, and how much are they how much
are you paying?

Speaker 11 (13:22):
They're expecting one hundred and ten, So.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
They're saying that you owe one hundred and ten based
on your income. You're saying you only O thirty twenty five.

Speaker 11 (13:33):
It's the base. It's the base because I'm basically zero income.

Speaker 4 (13:37):
Okay, Well, again they don't agree with you, and I
want to know why, Kachina, if you could put down
the mimosa and give her my uh or give her
the email, I really would like her to email me
that statement, and if she wouldn't mind, she can send
me that part of that tax return too. It just look,

(13:58):
it just doesn't sound like they automatically want to do that.
And also we need honest, accurate auto Jesse is he
around or not?

Speaker 16 (14:08):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (14:09):
Kachina? Is he around? Okay? All right, Matt, I really
just want to touch base with him. But if what
Kevin says is true, I'm going to free up the line.
I mean, there's no reason keeping you on while we're
waiting for Jesse. If what Kevin Calkin believes is right,
and he buys enough parts. They say, we're not responsible
for consequences of damages unless it's unconscionable or intentional or something.

(14:34):
You're gonna have a hard time collecting that five thousand
dollars bill again. You might want to try small claims
court and use Jesse as your witness, But if you've
already agreed not to do it, then then that's it.
That's going to be the problem. Okay, So Kachina is
getting information from Teresa. Deputy Chopper has a follow up.
Deputy Chopper, which this is with Camping World. This was

(14:58):
a long involved When can you explain it? Let me? Yeah,
well go ahead.

Speaker 9 (15:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (15:04):
He brought it in on April fourteenth, and he's been
given the run around since. Uh, since then, he still
doesn't have it.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Uh.

Speaker 14 (15:12):
The guy that we had everyone called changed his number.
I would like to give him another call. And I
also have an auto question.

Speaker 4 (15:19):
Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait a minute. So, okay,
the thing with Camping World, explain the original problem with it?
With it? With with it.

Speaker 14 (15:29):
The original problem, as I understand it, it was something
to do with a window that fell out. Warranty and
then a screw that was too long, right, that's did
damage across it, you know, as the.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
Sliders and so and so. What did he want? I mean,
you just got to repair it, okay, And they won't
repair it. Are they just refusing?

Speaker 14 (15:56):
They they they actually ghost him. They don't tell him anything, really,
and they did it to me too. You just get
put on hold when you.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
Call them, okay. And this was I'm trying to find
the guy's name here, Bob, Bob And it was a
twenty twenty Jco.

Speaker 14 (16:16):
You got that right, a thirty two footer.

Speaker 4 (16:18):
So the owner now is this Colorado Springs camping World? Yes, yep.
And basically they're just ignoring it. We hear this all
the time about Camping World. But when they email the owner,
that guy that was is the prophet on Marcus, Marcus, Lamonis, Lamoinas,

(16:41):
whatever however you're pronounce it. Did you ever give him
that email or you could email him chopper and really did? Oh?
You did? Mark? You emailed that owner? Yes?

Speaker 14 (16:52):
I did. And then when I didn't hear anything back directly,
I called Camping World and then found out about this
guy named Matt Clark.

Speaker 4 (17:01):
But I think Matt Clark is no longer with them, right,
and a new manager took over. That's what my notes.

Speaker 14 (17:06):
Say, That's what they tell us. But for what I understand,
he just took over as regional manager.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
Now that number seven, are you saying they changed it?

Speaker 14 (17:19):
They chan't, Well, Matt has a new number now.

Speaker 4 (17:22):
But if Matt's no longer there, there's no reason to
call him.

Speaker 14 (17:26):
But he's he might be like the regional takes care
of love, Lenane.

Speaker 4 (17:30):
Do you have his new number?

Speaker 14 (17:33):
I do?

Speaker 4 (17:34):
Okay, hold on, I'm going to write it down. People
should say you heard about him on the Tom Martino Show,
and uh, but if he's no longer with them, you
know what's what's Matt's new number?

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Seven?

Speaker 14 (17:46):
Two zero?

Speaker 4 (17:47):
Okay, Carol six two? Maybe he got a new phone
because he is no longer with them, I mean maybe that.
I mean, I mean we we need to really need
to look into that. So right now we're at a
dead standstill, just a dead standstill.

Speaker 14 (18:06):
Yeah, and the main thing is summers. You know, why
buy an RV if you can't have it during.

Speaker 4 (18:10):
This No, no, I get it, but I mean there, so,
where is his RV right now doing?

Speaker 14 (18:16):
At Colorado Springs.

Speaker 4 (18:18):
Service, and it's how long has it been sitting there?
Four months?

Speaker 14 (18:22):
Apparently since well when he called us April fourteenth.

Speaker 4 (18:26):
This is ridiculous.

Speaker 6 (18:28):
How big a repair is it? I mean dollar wise?

Speaker 14 (18:31):
You know, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (18:34):
It's chopping back in the back chopper. You called down
there and say what's going on with this? What will
they say? Will they not talk to you?

Speaker 14 (18:43):
They will say hang on and then they'll come on
and say we can't talk to you.

Speaker 9 (18:49):
God.

Speaker 4 (18:51):
So we should give out that number Deak store down
there or that service department.

Speaker 14 (18:54):
Do we have that one that was that seven nine one?

Speaker 4 (18:59):
Oh? Okay, so there that seven to one nine is
still working that people can call. Uh, I'll give that
that in a minute. This. You know, when things like
this happen, it just pisses me off. I just can't
believe the level of service. Camping World really sucks. It
really really sucks. And people you ought to think twice.
I know they're the biggest game in town now for

(19:19):
buying retail stuff over the counter. That's fine, but I
would not take I absolutely positively would not take anything
I own to them, Nor would I nor would I
buy from them. Go with a sure thing Denver's best
roofer Excel Roofing dot com. You don't pay a cent
until you're content. Time for an insurance check up free,

(19:42):
no obligation. In comparison, call Compass Insurance paying too much
your coverage at dozens of insurance companies find out now
three all three seven to seven to one. Help. You'll
think you're his only customer when you choose Frank durand
the real estate Man dot com to list your home
with Remax Alliance three all three nine two zero sixteen
twenty two. Hi Tom Martine here, Welcome. It's Friday's car Day.

(20:09):
We can talk cars, we can talk anything you want.
And Dominique, she has an issue with a landlord. Okay,
so Dominique, what is happening in your life today? How
can we help you?

Speaker 17 (20:25):
Yeah, so we've been having issues with our We rent
some trikone residential and we had moved in back in
like March.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
Now, now when you gave that name, is that the
management company?

Speaker 17 (20:41):
Yes, it's a management company. It's like a multimillion dollar
company from like they buy houses from different states.

Speaker 4 (20:48):
So is this a single family home?

Speaker 17 (20:52):
Yes, yes, it's three people live here.

Speaker 4 (20:54):
Three people, so it's you and two others, yes, crust
and are you all related? What I mean is are
you all friends or or are they? Do you each
get a room and you don't know each other? What
is that like?

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 17 (21:06):
No, Yeah, so we're all friends and we all have
our own separate rooms.

Speaker 4 (21:10):
But what I mean is does each one of them
have a separate agreement for each room? Did they? Did
they rent out rooms in this house? Or are they
renting to all three of you in a lease?

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 17 (21:22):
So all of us are on the leaf.

Speaker 4 (21:24):
Okay, so you all went in on the lease, gotcha? Okay?
So yeah, okay, so you and two others are renting,
And what's what's the problem now?

Speaker 17 (21:37):
So the problem is that we think that they're breaking
the law of habibility. The first day that we moved in,
there was a water leak and it took them over
a day and a half to come and fix it
in our backyard ended up flooding.

Speaker 4 (21:52):
Okay, and then and then what did they what did
they do after they fixed it? Did they get rid
of the water? Sit? In other words, that the standards
of habitability? You know, it used to be. Since I've
been on the radio so long, it used to be
if you called up, I'd say, you know what, dominique,
they can do whatever they want. And that was the truth.
Now it's it's pretty strict right now. I mean, tenants

(22:13):
have a lot more rights, so you know, you might
be covered by the standards of habitability. Where are you located?

Speaker 17 (22:22):
So we're located in Aurora. There are one er no
no no no, no, no no no.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
Don't give me your address, dear, don't give your dress. Okay.
So because oh, okay, so you're in Aurora in a home,
and other than the flooding, tell me some of the
problems they're not addressing.

Speaker 17 (22:41):
Yeah, so we had a gas week, We've had sewage
build up happened. We were displaced for an entire month.
It took them two weeks to come out actually to
get the sewage figured out. Our basement has flooded yet again,
and it took them about two weeks to come out.
We might have more, My god, like the seventh time

(23:02):
that they have come to figure out if we have
mold or not. Our washer, our dryer has been broken.
We just got a second washer. Our dishwasher broke for
the second my god, our second dishwasher.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
Okay, okay, hold on, okay, okay, So you have a
whole list now for the standards of habitability. Your appliances
won't count there, but there there are some things you
mentioned that will count. But here's let me tell you
about the standards habit, lily, and how you work this law.
It must be something serious affecting safety or security or

(23:38):
use of the premises, and it must be unaddressed and
then you and then I'm going to look up the
actual PDF I made. But there is this, there is something.
There's a checklist you go through and if you do it,
you can literally withhold rent and have it done yourself.
You can't just withhold rent. It must be used to

(24:01):
fix it. So here's what I'd like to know. What
right now? What is the situation? Is there any serious
issue that has been unaddressed by them?

Speaker 17 (24:14):
Yeah, I would honestly say, like the basement, the fact
that the sewage happened and we're still having issues. There's
some sort of bleak that's happening on the outside of
the house. You can visibly see, We've taken photos of it, and.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
It goes into the basement.

Speaker 17 (24:30):
Yeah, it's going into the basement master room where Ashley lives.
She has not been able to be in her bedroom
for the last like two and a half weeks.

Speaker 4 (24:40):
Okay, and they're not addressing it at all, or they're
just slow, so they're really slow.

Speaker 17 (24:47):
They keep having these third party maintenance people come in
and they'll like come in, they'll scrape off a little bit,
and then they'll come and test it and then we'll
get a false positive, so then they'll come in again.
They'll start cleaning it again.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah, like I said, that's the sixth time in So.

Speaker 4 (25:03):
It's what you're saying is basically the pain in the
butt they're not they're not addressing. Okay, you have to
follow the standards of habitability this act, and you sound
like an excellent candidate. You and your roommates to get
something done. I'm trying to look at it while we're talking.
I I really believe we can also have Deputy Doc

(25:25):
over here call them uh and say, look, you know
they have these rights. And when once we do that,
you know that changes things a bit. They're gonna be
a little pissed at you, but that doesn't matter. They
can't make you.

Speaker 17 (25:42):
We've we emailed them at least like three times a day,
Oh god, okay, Doc, do you want to here?

Speaker 4 (25:48):
Here's what we would do. We would simply we would
simply call them and say, look, what are you doing
to address these issues? And that's basically what we would do. Okay,
and then and then we would have them. Okay, I
found it. I found it. I'm going to email this
to you. It's it's a complete checklist on how to

(26:12):
do it and if you do, if you do with
this step by step action guide, you're going to get action.
But before I do it, so, Kachina, could you leave
this for me? Please? Could you get her email address
and get it to me? And what I'm going to
do is send this to her. Okay, thank you. So

(26:34):
I'm going to send this to you. But Deputy Doc
is also going to call you in a few minutes
here and get some information. Doc, are you can you
do that in a few minutes here, and then he'll
give a call to the landlord and maybe or the
management company and maybe we can get him to do something. Okay,
So hang hang on just a second here, all right?
Three oh three seven one three eight two five five Now,

(26:55):
Deputy Chopper, I'm gonna go back to after the break
he has a car question for our experts right after this,
and then any and all of your calls. Remember three
oh three Martino will get you right through three O
three six, two seven, eight, four sixty six. Fix my
home dot com that's fixed At twenty four to seven.
I had dinner with George the owner, and you know what,
they are so committed. I gave him kudos for how

(27:16):
wonderful the reviews are. When they go out people say
you need something, they do a free second opinion and
find out guess what it just needed a part. They
did that with me. I was told I needed new
ac by a few people, and you know what, they
came out and fixed the whole dang thing. What I
was gonna listen to this, the whole dang thing for

(27:36):
under a grand and it was it was a new
like whatever I needed, but they look to fix, not
necessary to replace. Get your free second opinions Fix myhome
dot com book now go with a sure thing Denver's
Best roofer Excel Roofing dot Com. You don't pay a
cent until you're content. Time for an insurance check up free,

(28:03):
no obligation. In comparison, call Compass insurance paying too much
your coverage at dozens of insurance companies. Find out now
three all three seven to seven to one help. You'll
think you're his only customer when you choose Frank durand
the Real Estate Man dot Com to list your home
with Remax Alliance three all three nine two zero sixteen
twenty two. Hey Tom Martino here, welcome three all three

(28:29):
seven one three talks seven one three two five five
Frank durand the real Estate Man. We'll give you prices
on the phone. Not on the phone, he'll do a
free market evaluation that he give you a price and
a breakdown. You can do it in a phone call
or personal visit. He is a very dedicated person. This
is no obligation to find out what your house will
sell for on the market. So you'll get an idea

(28:50):
of what it will sell for, what you'll net and
even if you want to know what you can buy.
And that's all a free service. Frank Duran, it's very detailed.
Thirty years of sperience. Frank durand the real Estate Man
dot Com three zero three ninety zero sixteen twenty two.
Deputy Chopper has a car question. Go ahead, Chopper, what's
going on?

Speaker 14 (29:10):
Well, this is actually both my hondas and probably half
the people out there.

Speaker 8 (29:15):
That auto stop switch.

Speaker 14 (29:18):
I was watching you on YouTube, Tom, and right after
your short, there was a guy that came on and
talked about a relay. So I looked it up on
Amazon and they sell it. I want to know the
guy from Sheridan does that cause any problems?

Speaker 4 (29:33):
Now? Are what are you actually talking about? What are
the problems that people.

Speaker 6 (29:38):
Are expect when the car stops at a light, you know,
and then restarts when you let off the break right?
He wants to delete it or buy a passle?

Speaker 4 (29:45):
Okay? And how do you do that? There's some aren't
there on and off switches for that anyway?

Speaker 6 (29:51):
No, they don't want you to turn it off because.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
My mind has a switch I can I can disable okay.
I call it the golf card mode. Yeah, and what're
you golf card?

Speaker 5 (30:00):
When you cycle this, when you cycle the key, it
automatically turns that feature back on.

Speaker 4 (30:05):
That's right, okay.

Speaker 14 (30:07):
And with this, with this wire, it's off permanently or
either on permanently.

Speaker 5 (30:14):
So I with the relate you're talking about, I yeah,
I never yeah, yeah, you know that really is supposed
to defeat it. I haven't actually put one on. I
haven't really talked to anybody who's used it. I mean
it's I don't see where it would cause a problem.
All you're doing is turn it off. It's just defeating
of the actual computer mode.

Speaker 6 (30:34):
It's basically switch in the Yeah, it's not a big deal.

Speaker 4 (30:39):
How much does it cost to do chopper?

Speaker 14 (30:42):
There's a different one for every car, but it was
like from nineteen dollars to thirty nine dollars.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
And where do you put it?

Speaker 3 (30:51):
You ask?

Speaker 14 (30:52):
We have to take a little to plastic off by
the radio and you just put it where it goes
from the button down to the plug in.

Speaker 4 (31:01):
You interrupted and you can do okay, and you interrupted
with a switch. It's not a switch, just a wire
and what is there? So the so what I do understand,
once he does that is permanently disabled. Yes, okay.

Speaker 5 (31:16):
Other people actually just push the button in and they'll
wedge something in there, like part of the plastic bread clips. Well,
wedge in there and keep it held down all the time,
so it keeps it off that way.

Speaker 4 (31:26):
You know, I have to try that. What do you
not like about that? Chopper? The golf cart mode?

Speaker 14 (31:32):
I can't get off the line quick enough.

Speaker 4 (31:34):
Oh really?

Speaker 14 (31:37):
They actually say that going back and forth harms it?

Speaker 3 (31:40):
That, does it?

Speaker 14 (31:41):
Or does it not? Guys?

Speaker 5 (31:43):
Going back and forth harms love?

Speaker 4 (31:44):
Does it? Use the starter of the engine, starter and batteries,
so it literally starts your car again every time?

Speaker 6 (31:51):
Every time?

Speaker 4 (31:51):
Well, then tell me that ain't wearing out your start?

Speaker 6 (31:54):
And then some of the starter, isn't it? Some of
the starters actually inside the transmission, so to change them,
it's it's twenty five hundred bucks.

Speaker 4 (32:02):
So yeah, so you know you're these people are onto
something permanently disabling it. Now, if I disable mine, it
has to be for that ride. As soon as I
turn it off, turn it back on, it resetsp So
every time I start the car, if I want to
stop that mode, I have to press that button. But

(32:22):
it stops it again, does it? I just find it
so odd that they install these things to begin with.
They can't save that much. I think it's meant for
people that sit there, and.

Speaker 6 (32:37):
I extreme, yes, I think it could, But the regular driving,
I think it probably costs more problems than it does.

Speaker 4 (32:43):
Say, I will say, there, what's that?

Speaker 3 (32:47):
Don't push the break all the way?

Speaker 4 (32:49):
Oh you can't, then you can't still, I think I
just even touched the brake and it works.

Speaker 5 (32:54):
Or just push the button.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
Yeah, it's very easy to trigger. And then also when
you're there are in a stop, it starts up right
away as soon as your brake pedal is is released,
just a quarter of an inch or so. Anyway, I'm
Tom Martinez. We have more coming up on The Troubleshooter
Show three oh three seven to one three talk go
with a sure thing Denver's best roofer Excel Roofing dot com.

(33:18):
You don't pay a cent until you're content. Time for
an insurance check up free no obligation comparison call Compass
Insurance paying too much your coverage at dozens of insurance
companies find out now three oh three seven to seven
to one help. You'll think you're his only customer when
you choose Frank durand the real estate Man dot com

(33:39):
to list your home with Remax Alliance three oh three
nine two zero sixteen twenty two.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Need advice so you don't have, as we can, the
Shooter's gonna help.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
Come man, this is the Troubleshooter Show.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
No Tom Martino. Hey, I'm Tom Martino it's car day today.
Give us a call three oh three seven one three
talk three oh three seven one three A two five five.
What's going on in your life? We have Kevin Colkin
with us from Sheridan Aldertech, Jeffick from Camera Transmission. Whatever's
on your mind? Give us a call. This hour brought
to you by one Clear Choice Garage Doors. As long

(34:28):
as we're talking about cars, make sure your garage door opener,
your garage doors are in tip top shape. They're great
people at one Clear Choice Doors dot Com. Seven to
zero three seven zero thirty nine eighty seven. All of
their prices are listed for everything they do, whether it's
a part of the door, the whole door, parts of openers.

(34:50):
One clear Choice Doors dot Com. What's going on? Tiputy, duc?

Speaker 9 (34:55):
I have a follow up for you?

Speaker 4 (34:56):
Talk which one? Sir?

Speaker 18 (34:57):
It was from Alice and her brother Michael, who had
a problem with the Direct Express Direct Express.

Speaker 4 (35:07):
Okay, this must have been one that Mark took. What
was it about?

Speaker 9 (35:10):
Anyway?

Speaker 4 (35:11):
Some Direct Express? What is Direct Express?

Speaker 18 (35:15):
I think it's a credit card company. At any rate,
it's like a debit card. But anyway, somebody hacked into
Michael's account and was charged for forty three and they
were trying to get it straightened out, and he applied

(35:35):
for a second card and the bill was still on there.
So now I don't know how much this is.

Speaker 4 (35:42):
Wait a minute, so somebody used the card, right, just
use it correct? And he had this card before, right,
And what did they buy?

Speaker 9 (35:55):
I don't think they bought anything. They just charged. They
took out money on his account.

Speaker 4 (36:01):
How do you take up? I see, that's what I
don't understand. Direct Express anyway, what do you mean they
took out money like as.

Speaker 18 (36:09):
Yeah, his his bill was for like forty three hundred dollars,
So now I don't know how much.

Speaker 9 (36:18):
I called them one time and left the message.

Speaker 18 (36:21):
And when I spoke to Alice, she said somebody from
Direct Express called them, straightened out.

Speaker 9 (36:27):
The problem, gave him a new card, and now he's.

Speaker 18 (36:31):
Made whole really so yeah, so they're very happy about that.

Speaker 4 (36:37):
Well they should be. That's great.

Speaker 9 (36:39):
So you can add forty three hundred dollars.

Speaker 4 (36:41):
Yeah, my dinger, but I don't have control of my
dinger right now. I have it at home. Well, I
left my dinger at home, Shannon.

Speaker 9 (36:49):
It's tough to do, Tom.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
Yeah, so that definitely deserves a dinger forty four hundred bucks.
They didn't give a hard time to the guy at all.
That's wonderful. I mean they just wow all right. By
the way, guys, the Camaro ZL one, what is it?
Top the charts for the most stolen car in America?

(37:15):
Now are they easy to steal? I mean, I thought
these newer cars nowadays with fobs are almost impossible to steal.

Speaker 6 (37:22):
You can get into the electronics with different scanners and stuff.
It's very not very hard. And they can also clone keys.
That's the thing they do is clone the key.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
There's always a key wherever there's a fob. Is that right?
The Accura is second, the four wheel drive tl X
Accur I'm not familiar with that. It's a large luxury
car yep SV and then so two Chevy Camaros, the
regular one the ZL one are on the top ten list.
The GMC Sierra twenty five hundred is next, and then

(37:54):
the Accura two wheel drive, So Accura and General Motors
right now on the top ten. And then there's a
GMC Sierra, a Chevrolet Silverado, oh my goodness.

Speaker 6 (38:07):
Oh the same platform.

Speaker 4 (38:08):
They're all kind of once you get once you know
how to hack one. And then the Dodge Darngo, the
land Rover. Why anyone would want to steal it? I
don't know. The RAM fifteen hundred, which is Dodge again,
so and then the Chevy Silverado Man so Chevy, Dodge
and Accura. That's weird, and they show up the most Chevy,

(38:30):
Dodge and Accura.

Speaker 6 (38:32):
Seems like once they find a hack, it spreads quick,
you know, like the key is a Hyundai's work for
a while.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
And the lowest stolen car, the one that is not
stolen at all, I mean, is the Tesla Model three,
the Model Y, the Model three again another time, and
the model has ye. I mean basically you can't steal Tesla's.
They're saying they're almost impossible to steal. And people when

(39:01):
they do steal them are on flatbeds, so they don't
even try to start them. They're taking them for parts,
for parts, but I wonder why, I mean, what parts
do you have in an EV battery? And then the
suspension is like any other car. Are suspension's the same.

Speaker 6 (39:19):
It's very very similar. Yeah, control arms, but they still
have shocks.

Speaker 5 (39:22):
You still have.

Speaker 6 (39:23):
Shocks, control arms, balldoints, everything.

Speaker 4 (39:25):
And they have to be aligned.

Speaker 6 (39:27):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
Okay, do regular shops work on them, on that part,
work on them. So you can do like regular stuff
until it gets to the motor and the battery.

Speaker 6 (39:39):
And that's usuly under warranty anyway, So you want to
go back to Tesla to get that work done.

Speaker 4 (39:43):
And if you think about it on a car, you know,
there's a lot outside of the actual engine and and
like the drive train though you don't have a you
don't have a.

Speaker 6 (39:55):
You don't have a conventional drive train. There's no transmission,
no drive shafts anything.

Speaker 4 (39:59):
There's no shaf there's no pumpkin gear, Nope, everything is
direct drive. That that makes a huge difference when it
comes to service.

Speaker 6 (40:08):
Sure, and the weight of the car too. I mean
they're taking all that out.

Speaker 5 (40:12):
Yeah, but but for what they are, those cars are overweight.

Speaker 6 (40:15):
For their for their size because of the batteries.

Speaker 4 (40:17):
Even though they take out some, they put in more
and most of the weight is on the battery. Does
that how are they? I wonder? In fact, I never
asked Mark, how are they in snow? I imagine the
model acts all wheel drive would be great. It's high
clearance and it's a beautiful car, So I think that
does well anyway. So that's the that's the stolen rate.

(40:40):
And do you know a lot of cars are stolen
out of airports. They know when people are going away,
and that is the number one place cars are stolen,
not just the I A, but all over For a long.

Speaker 5 (40:52):
Time, it was also where they were hitting them up
for the catalytic converters when that theft was high.

Speaker 4 (40:55):
Yeah, what happened to that that all that all died down.

Speaker 5 (40:58):
Because of the wave. They started marking down on you know,
who could actually bring these things in. Everything was being
registered in the oils.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
And so it's hard to resell them.

Speaker 6 (41:09):
It's hard to unload them. It's hard to unload them.
A guy can't show up with a hundred of them
and sell them.

Speaker 4 (41:13):
Yeah, yeah, because they have to suspect theft or it comes.
So and then this was, uh, this was covered a
little while ago by nine News. But when you park
at Denver International Airport, I think this is kind of dirty.
But when you park there, the police go through and
look for citations and all of the problems that you

(41:35):
can end up booted. Also with the license plate readers,
especially expired license plates. Sure, so if you have an
expired license plate, they run your number when you pull in.
If you're expired, you'll end up you'll come home from
a trip and have a ticket. And it's much easier
because DA is cooperating with police, of course, and then
they so they scan you when you come in. If

(41:56):
there's anything against that license, it shows up up on
your windshield. Now some have been booted as well, but
they gave out Listen to this, seven thousand This is
this year so far, seven thousand citations for just expired plates.

(42:18):
I mean that that's an incredible number. Seven thousand tickets
people got, they go, they come back home and they're
pissed off.

Speaker 6 (42:27):
Well it's simple, you know, you gets your place renewed.

Speaker 4 (42:30):
I mean, well, yeah, and you have a grace period
for that as well. Right days now, that was another thing. See,
we went through this period and I don't want to
get political, but it was with Biden where law enforcement
was lax. Shoplifting remember that that anything under a thousand. Yeah,
and you don't hear about that anymore, although there are

(42:50):
some people that do it. Shoplifting was a big deal.
People not registering their cars, they weren't stopping for anything
except major infractions. But things seem to be getting back
to normal right now. Again, we had catalytic converters, shoplifting,
we had people not registering their cars. It was common

(43:12):
for me to see cars without license plates.

Speaker 6 (43:15):
Several years yeah expiring.

Speaker 4 (43:17):
I mean without license plates, and nothing was ever done
to them. So if you go in and you register late,
you're gonna pay, yes, and you're going to pay a
penalty for that, yep. And then another thing, you know,
speaking of renewals, there's one thing I don't like is
where they automatically give you that extra park pass they

(43:37):
until you opt out of it. You have to opt
out of it. Otherwise it's a third I think a
thirty five dollars charge that shows up on your renewal
and you have to look really hard because they're sneaky
about it. They're absolutely sneaky about it. So anyway, three
oh three seven one three talks seven one three eight
two five five. Another thing that I need to warry

(44:01):
you about, and well I'm going to talk about it.
It has to do with an email I got on
custom homes, and I'm going to tell you about it.
Their custom or custom track homes. What I mean is
you know where they have three or four models, you
buy a model and then they let you modify it.

(44:24):
There's something going on in the home business that you
need to know about because what the way they're pricing
them is get in my opinion, not honest, and it
doesn't give the right impressions. So when you're comparing one
company to another, you're going to end up maybe making

(44:46):
the wrong choice. I'll explain the tricks homebuilders are doing
on house pricing right after this. Go with a sure
thing Denver's Best roofer Excel Roofing dot com. You don't
pay a cent until you're content. Time for an insurance

(45:06):
checkup free, no obligation. In comparison, call Compass Insurance paying
too much your coverage at dozens of insurance companies find
out now three all three, seven to seven to one help.
You'll think you're his only customer when you choose Frank
durand the real estate Man dot com to list your
home with Remax Alliance three A three nine two zero
sixteen twenty two. Hi Tom Martino, you're a troubleshooter or

(45:32):
so pricing houses now it's even with track houses, but
mostly with customized housing or new houses from custom builders.
People usually look at the package and what's going to cost,

(45:52):
and then they figure, Okay, this house is cheaper than
that one, or that one has this and this one
has that. In fact, they put a lot of special
features in some houses and you say, wow, this house
has a lot of features and it's cheaper than this house.
So when comparing houses, you have to look beyond the

(46:16):
price they give you. If they say I can do
this house and build this house for you for six
hundred and twenty five thousand dollars and the other builder says,
what are you kidding me? I can do it for
five twenty five and you're thinking of saving one hundred grand.
Whether it's a track home, whether it's a semi customized
home like a track with models that you can modify,

(46:38):
or a totally custom, total custom home, whatever it is.
Even if you meet with a builder and design a
home from ground on up and he gives you a price,
and then you go to another builder and meet with
them and they give you a price, there's something that
can snag you and get you in trouble. And I

(47:02):
have found people who go by the price, the square
footage and the features get in trouble. Guys, you want
to take a guess why the cheapest house can turn
out to be the most expensive house and why the
medium house could turn out to be the lowest price.

Speaker 18 (47:21):
Don't you have to specify all of the details, what
kind of brick they're using, what appliances they're putting in,
what kind of flooring they're putting in.

Speaker 4 (47:29):
You're getting close up.

Speaker 9 (47:30):
Everything has to be here.

Speaker 4 (47:32):
Here's what it is. Here's what it is. You're very
close most of the structure, the brick and all that
standard stucco, siding windows. Yes, obviously you want to compare
apples with apples when it comes to what we call
components the window, siding, doors, roof, you know, like a
fancy roof. But even then, here's what happens. What they

(47:52):
never specify now they should, but it with it's brain damage.
And frankly, builders don't want to do it because it
takes too long unless you pay for it. And there
are people who pay an architect and a builder to
go that deep into detail. But if they decide not
to build after that, they lose that money. But here's
what it's called. They're called allowance items, and that's where

(48:14):
people get in trouble. So you go look at a
customized a home that you want to customize, and you
love the price. But then you notice in the bathroom,
for bathroom hardware and fixtures, let's say they specify allowance
of a certain amount of money, or even when it
comes to floor coverings, instead of specifying floor coverings, they

(48:38):
give you a floor covering allowance. Those allowances can either
be realistic or unrealistic. Here's what's unfortunate. Many times, what
happens is builders purposely put in lower prices for a loo.

(49:00):
For example, in the bathroom, when you talk about bathroom hardware,
that's a big deal. Towel racks, a subdish, you know,
the shower heads, the faucets, all of that. They can
put in a price let's say of twenty two hundred dollars,
which is totally let's say, outrageously low. I'm giving exaggerated numbers.
Then another builder is more honest and puts an allowance

(49:23):
in there of about sixteen to eighteen thousand dollars. Well,
when you start adding up allowance items, whether it's bathroom
hardware or it is or you can have floor covering
allowances or you can have allowances for finish and trim
on the walls or different things. When you start adding

(49:44):
it up, what you end up doing are adding up
a lot of unrealistic allowance items. So the price of
the home seems damn reasonable, But when you get into
building it, what you find later on when you get
into building it is that I can't do the floors

(50:06):
for that allowance. It's going to cost me double that allowance,
or twenty five or fifty percent more than an allowance.
So each time you delve into an allowance item, you
get the real price as you're building. So the one
that looked or appeared to be the cheapest home to

(50:27):
build ends up being the most expensive. Now there's the
reason I'm mentioning this is because right now a lot
of people are looking into the new option because of
where the prices of older homes are. They say, look,
if I'm going to pay this, I may as well
get exactly what I want. So beware of that when
you are looking at home contracts, look at allowance items

(50:52):
and make sure they are realistic, or as Deputy Doc said,
specify at all.

Speaker 6 (50:58):
Now.

Speaker 4 (50:58):
A lot of people don't like specifying upfront because they
want to go shopping, and really and truly that is
really a little impractical to try to pick everything up front,
although there are people anal enough that'll do it. DOC.
When you were building your home semi custom, did they
add the one you're in now, did you have allowance items?

Speaker 9 (51:22):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (51:22):
Okay? Were you able to stay within the allowance items?

Speaker 9 (51:26):
Yes? Well, here's in my case, they realistic.

Speaker 4 (51:29):
They were good. That's good.

Speaker 18 (51:30):
In my case, what they did with the Washington dryer,
everything was specified on the contract. They told me that
because they could not get the exact washer dryer that
was specified in the contract, they would give me an
allowance of X dollars. So I looked around and I

(51:52):
found that it was very reasonable to accept the allowance.

Speaker 4 (51:56):
Okay, I get it. So the allowances in your case
were real Yeah.

Speaker 9 (52:00):
I mean I have had no problem with the builders.
They have been great.

Speaker 4 (52:04):
There are a lot of people though listening. I know
that you got into a home and you went, wow,
we spent way more than we thought because of the allowances.
The allowances were artificially low. So that's my tip for
today on that. And it all came from an email.
Somebody was complaining that they moved into a home and

(52:28):
it was way more than they thought it was going
to be. And that has to do with allowance items.
We got more coming up. Someone wants to know about
good used car values, and we should talk about that
because a lot of people are buying used. I'm a
personal believer in not buying junk, used or really old.

(52:49):
The one hundred and fifty thousand mile cards and that's
where a lot of people buy to keep prices down
and they end up getting in trouble. We got that
and more coming up. Go with a sure thing Denver's
Best roofer Excel Roofing dot com. You don't pay a
cent until you're content. Time for an insurance check up

(53:11):
free no obligation comparison call Compass Insurance paying too much
your coverage at dozens of insurance companies find out now
three oh three seven seven to one help. You'll think
you're his only customer when you choose Frank durand the
real estate Man dot com to list your home with
Remax Alliance three oh three nine two zero sixteen twenty two.

(53:38):
Hi Tom Martino, your troubleshooter. You can text the show
at five seven seven three nine, which is the the
iHeart connection short code, or you can do my thing
which is seven four seven nine nine nine fifty two
point eighty and you'll get me there and you can

(54:00):
text me. And I got a text here about whereas
it was. I just had it there, and it's about
buying the salvage car from their insurance company. And here's
what they want to know, if it's fair. They want
to know because they now I have an exaggerated example.

(54:21):
I laugh about on this on buying salvage and how
unfair it can be. And I'll give that story, and
then we'll talk about buying the salvage vehicle from your
insurance company. Insurance companies love when you do that because
they don't have to mess with it, and then they
just get to write you a smaller check. So one time,

(54:42):
and you guys will remember this. There was I got
to get this out of the chair. I'm sorry, I'm
all hold on a second. So one time a guy
goes there, I got an tangled thank you. So a
guy goes home, parks his truck out front. It's an

(55:05):
old pickup truck he had for years. He loved the truck,
he absolutely loved it. So I'm a drunk. I think
it was a drunk driver. A driver comes down the
street and side swipes him, really does a number. It's
still drivable, okay, but he side swipes it. Because the

(55:25):
truck was old and crappy. The insurance company says, we're
going to total it. They valued it at about seven
or eight hundred bucks. The guy says, what are you
kidding me. I'm not taking seven or eight hundred It's
a running pickup truck. Even though it was old, it

(55:46):
was truly old, like seventy eight or something like that.
He says, I want this car. I want to keep it.
It's still driveable. I'll fix it, but I want to
keep it. And they said, okay, then we're not going
to give you the eight hundred bucks. But what we
will do is you get to keep the car now.

Speaker 9 (56:07):
Now.

Speaker 4 (56:07):
I swear to God, this is how it turned out.
He's at home, minding his own business. A guy wipes
out his truck and they say to him. The perpetrators
insurance company says to him, good news, our guy hit

(56:27):
your truck, but we're gonna let you keep it. And
they were not going to pay him a dime.

Speaker 5 (56:34):
So he gets no money.

Speaker 4 (56:35):
No, because theoretically they're paying him seven or eight hundred
bucks and he's buying it back for seven or eight
hundred bucks. So the net result is this guy was
literally he lod I mean, it's unconsortable. They said, hey,
you get to keep your truck that's now damaged and

(56:57):
it wasn't damaged before. That sounds in possible, but it happened.
So let's talk about buying salvage. If you have a
car that they total for let's say twenty six thousand dollars,
and you want to buy it back, or literally you

(57:18):
want to keep it, the question is how what is
fair to that they charge you for the salvage. I
came up with a formula and I think it makes sense,
but I wanted to run it by you guys, because
this guy wants to buy his pickup truck back and
it's right and around that price. Let's say they charge

(57:41):
you for that salvage six thousand dollars, right, the salvage
value of that car would be then twenty thousand. So
instead of giving him twenty six, they're gonna give him
twenty and let him keep. And I don't know if
these are real numbers but I mean, I mean, I

(58:05):
don't know of the real numbers. I'm just coming up
with a formula. So if you get a twenty thousand
dollars check and your old truck, how do you know
if that's fair. The way I think I would calculate
it is this way. If I was paid for my
damaged truck and I get to keep it, I would

(58:26):
want to know that my truck at twenty grand, plus
the repairs I have to put into it that I
voluntarily will put into it, will come to that total
price about I don't think. In other words, I think
that if I add in the repairs and the price

(58:46):
I pay, so I pray my insurance company twenty grand
and it's going to take me ten grand to fix it.
Let's say if that's the case, that thirty thousand dollars
should represent fair market value of that truck. Otherwise they're
overcharging you for the salvage or you're being overcharged for
repairs repairs.

Speaker 6 (59:07):
Either.

Speaker 4 (59:07):
But if you know you have a good price on repairs,
a good price, if you add that to the salvage value,
it should equal fair market value. You'll never get fair
market value because of lost you know, all that, but
it's as far as calculating your salvage that would tell
you if you're getting an okay deal. Do you guys

(59:30):
kind of agree with that or not?

Speaker 6 (59:31):
Well, it should be worth less though, because of diminish
value and the headache you're going to have ton to
get insurance and other things for it.

Speaker 4 (59:38):
No, no, no, I know that, but that's not for calculating.
Otherwise you're screwed if you calculate salvage.

Speaker 6 (59:43):
If you have to keep that in mind though when
you're calculating.

Speaker 4 (59:46):
No, okay, well, here's what I mean, Kevin. If my
insurance company is offering me to keep the truck and
I have to literally pay, I mean, it's just me.
I'm paying six grand to keep the truck, right, Okay,
So that's six grand plus the cost of repairs should

(01:00:07):
equal that truck before the accident. Because now what you're saying,
is it should it is?

Speaker 6 (01:00:18):
It's never going to be worse that again.

Speaker 4 (01:00:20):
No, it's not, but at least it gives you a
barometer on the salvage. And that's what I was saying.
So in other words, you're trying to figure out am
I paying too much for the salvage? And I kept
saying twenty. It's actually the opposite. He was paying six.
So if it's twenty six grand, you get to keep it,
you pay six. You're paying six for the salvage. It's

(01:00:40):
more like ten or eleven they would do. But whatever
they do, whatever you have to pay for the salvage,
add the cost of repairs on top of it. Those
two prices together should never go over. And you're right now,
I see where you get. Diminished value. Should never go
over the price of that car when you go to
sell it, and it should never go under either. I mean,

(01:01:03):
if it goes under, your better. But what you don't
want to do is pay too much for that salvage.
We've had many people who buy the salvage back from insurance.
They do the repairs and they're buried in it. They
would have been better off to take the full settlement
and go out and buy something. But I don't know
why a lot of people want to buy their own
car back from the insurance. I don't know why. There

(01:01:26):
must be something they love about it. They know it
inside and out. They figure, look, it's just the front
quarter panel. I can fix it, And I don't believe
it should be totaled. So whatever it is in your case,
what I'm saying is is add in the cost of repairs,
add them in to the costs of the salvage. When

(01:01:46):
you add them together, you should get at least a
pretty good value if you were going to go out
to buy that truck. Now, if you want to subtract
a few thousand for diminished value, that's another thing. But
at least you know you're not paying too much for salvage.
Because insurance companies, for some reason, when they know they
have a consumer that loves their vehicle, they sometimes charge way, way,

(01:02:10):
way too much for that salvage vehicle. In fact, way
more than they would get from someone else. You shouldn't
pay any more than than clothes would pay right or
or a salvage yard. Those salvage ars buy, they probably
buy them dirt cheap.

Speaker 6 (01:02:23):
Oh, the insurance auctions, it's amazing how much they get
for cars.

Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
Oh they do. They can't is that because there are
consumers running up the price?

Speaker 15 (01:02:31):
Right?

Speaker 6 (01:02:31):
Hard to tell, but it's it's dumb money. Some days
I go to once in.

Speaker 4 (01:02:34):
A while, you're talking about insurance recks.

Speaker 6 (01:02:36):
Short's auctions.

Speaker 4 (01:02:37):
Yeah, and you're telling me that some of those salvage
vehicles go for a good dollar.

Speaker 6 (01:02:42):
I shake my head and wonder what they what they're thinking.

Speaker 4 (01:02:45):
Anyway, Deputy Dimitri, I got to take this break, but
I want to talk to him first. He is at
the site of a bank where Ricky is his name
Ricky the consumer?

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
Yeah, our caller's name is the consumer's name is rick Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:03:02):
So rick was notified by phone that he won Mega
millions and the Mercedes, and they wanted to come to
his house with FBI agents and they wanted to accompany
him to his bank. Now I don't know why they
had to go to his bank. I don't know what
the what the ruse is there, because obviously they're going

(01:03:22):
to want money from him. What they said at first
was well this was my idea, Tom No, no, But
they wanted to accompany him to his bank to get
to deposit the funds. They were going to drop by
his house and they were supposed to go over to
the bank. You said, let's short circus, Okay, go ahead, Yah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
I have a small corrections to that. They wanted to
complete the entire transaction to his house.

Speaker 15 (01:03:45):
And when you.

Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
And I got involved in this, I wanted to move
the transaction out.

Speaker 4 (01:03:50):
Of his own Okay. I thought they originally put.

Speaker 3 (01:03:52):
Him and his wife in danger.

Speaker 4 (01:03:53):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:03:54):
And I said, let's go to a bank. Tell them
it's your bank, and you can meet them there. Okay,
camera agreed.

Speaker 4 (01:04:00):
Okay, good. Did the scammer show up at the bank?
Hold on, we'll talk about that, coming right up. Go
with a sure thing Denver's best roofer Excel Roofing dot com.
You don't pay a cent until you're content. Wait time
for an insurance check up free, no obligation. In comparison,

(01:04:21):
call Compass Insurance paying too much your coverage at dozens
of insurance companies find out now three all three seven
to seven to one help. You'll think you're his only
customer when you choose Frank durand the real estate Man
dot com to list your home with Remax Alliance three
all three nine two zero sixteen twenty two. Hi Tom

(01:04:44):
Martine here at three all three seven one three talks
seven one three A two five five. So let's go
to Deputy Dimitri. So I'll recap. The guy was called
Rick saying that he won mega millions in a Mercedes
and they wanted to come to his house with two
FBI agents to deliver the prize and to give him
the money. He called us. Deputy D thought, you know,

(01:05:07):
let's let's meet at a bank and call it his bank,
and I'll be there and we'll observe this whole thing,
because somewhere along the line they're going to want money
or something from this guy. And so they made an
appointment and the scammers agreed to meet him at the bank.

(01:05:28):
What happened to Mitrice at the stage you went there
with him this morning?

Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
Well, so I'd like to back up for about thirty seconds.
And last night I had a couple of conversations with
the wheat Rich Police, and because I invited both them
and the FBI to the meeting, that's what they might
be interested in, the FBI agents impersonators. So I did
get a pretty quick response from the wheat Rich Police,
and the gentleman I spoke with said, look, even if

(01:05:56):
we go to the meeting tomorrow, that we can't just
bring into action and arrest these guys right on the spot.
That's not how it works except in the movies. They
need to develop suspect information. So he said, if you
could provide any kind of a suspect, description, license plates,
that kind of stuff. Then we rich police will start
working on this case and they might take another step

(01:06:19):
after that, which would be to set up a meeting
with a suspect on their own. Okay, So with that
in mind, I called I called Rick, our caller, and said, look,
we're not going.

Speaker 4 (01:06:32):
I'm not going.

Speaker 10 (01:06:32):
We're not going to.

Speaker 3 (01:06:33):
Go interface with the suspect. We just want to get
some pictures in some video and we want to see
if they actually show up. I asked Rick not to
come because at this point I'm thinking, you know, maybe
his own personal safety might be in jeopardy. And I
told him I'll come that I'll go alone.

Speaker 4 (01:06:50):
Okay, So you'll be the person that they're going to meet.
And how did they set up to meet? Did they
say they would be in a particular auto or was
there a signal? How would they know? How would they
know who each other?

Speaker 3 (01:07:04):
So the scammer told Rick that the scammer is going
to pull up in a black Mercedes no no excuse me,
in a black limousine. It will be followed by a
tow truck that will have rix new Mercedes on it.

Speaker 4 (01:07:17):
That's what they said.

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
That's how that's what they said. So that was our
plan to identify the scammers. So I showed up at
the bank parking lot at ten thirty this morning, and
of course Rick showed up too, and that's fine, you know,
he's got that right and he's having fun with it.
So I took a lap around the parking lot and
I made a videotape of all of the vehicles parked

(01:07:39):
over there, and then I parked across from the front
door with my dash cam running.

Speaker 8 (01:07:44):
And what I've.

Speaker 3 (01:07:46):
Noticed is something very suspicious. Within about a couple of
minutes of me arriving, a pickup truck with totally blacked
out windows pulled up in a parking spot right in
front of me and sat there idling for approximate twenty minutes.
Nobody exited the truck, and I couldn't see who the
occupant or occupants were.

Speaker 4 (01:08:08):
They could have been the FBI, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:08:11):
So I recorded the license plate and I took pictures,
and so I figured it's either the scammer or the FEDS.
So I stayed there to see and I didn't see
anybody else suspicious, so I remained on the scene to
see if anybody exits the truck. Sure enough, after fifteen
or maybe even twenty minutes of waiting inside the truck,

(01:08:32):
this dude emerges from the truck and he goes inside,
and of course I'm taking pictures the whole time. So
he goes inside the bank, and I observe his actions
in there.

Speaker 5 (01:08:44):
Unlike all the.

Speaker 3 (01:08:45):
Customers whom I already observed, he doesn't get on line
to talk to the tailer. He doesn't go talk to
the tailers.

Speaker 4 (01:08:52):
He just all right, hold on, we'll come right back.
Go with a sure thing Denver's best Ruffer excel roofing
dot com. You don't pay a cent until you're content.
Time for an insurance check up free, no obligation comparison
call Compass Insurance. Pay too much your coverage at dozens

(01:09:13):
of insurance companies find out now three oh three seven
seven one help. You'll think you're his only customer when
you choose Frank durand the real estate Man dot com
to list your home with Remax Alliance three oh three
nine two zero sixteen twenty two ripped up.

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
You need advice so you don't have.

Speaker 4 (01:09:40):
Run anxious. As fast as we can show.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
Shooter's gonna help come.

Speaker 4 (01:09:47):
This is The Troubleshooter Show. No Tom Martine, Hey Tom
Martina here, Welcome to the show. Three on three seven
one three talks seven one, three, eight, two five five.
Give us call if you have a problem, question or complain.
If you want to talk about cars, it's car Day today.
We're talking about all kinds of car problems and other things.

(01:10:08):
For example, Rick called into the show and said, Hey,
I got a phone call saying I won Mega millions
and I want to I want to collect the prize,
and they said they have to come to my house.
They have to come to my house. So they're going
to bring two FBI agents and show up. Deputy D says,

(01:10:32):
wait a minute, that's a bad idea to have them
at your house. So what we're going to do is
let's tell them we'll meet them at your bank and
I'll show up there. So they agreed to that. Today
they promised to show up at the bank. They were
going to be there with a flatbed towing a carrying

(01:10:55):
his new Mercedes and deposit millions into his account. I
don't know what their game is. Usually when you have scammers,
they want to get money from you. So I don't know.
As I said, why would they have to meet him.
They would just say, pay the sales tax whatever, go online,
get gift cards, whatever. But Deputy D was going to

(01:11:19):
pose as Rick, except Brick showed up to so they're
both at the bank and take it away, Dmitri. What
happened then?

Speaker 3 (01:11:28):
So the guy who finally left a suspicious vehicle, I
made him for our suspect because he actually looked exactly
high I pictured him. He looked like the typical Instagram
douche who poses with you know, rented and stolen stolen Lamborghinis.
You know that look I'm talking about.

Speaker 4 (01:11:47):
Yep, But why do you think? But what was his game?
I wonder what he's looking what is he looking for?

Speaker 3 (01:11:56):
So he is now demanding that Rick buy these cash
cards I think the green cards or of course. But
but here's the important part that we developed today. Uh,
after I got a good look at the guy, you know,
I went into the bank, I eventually followed him and
I pretended to be on the phone while video recording

(01:12:18):
this guy sitting there impatiently looking at his phone and
you know, making calls.

Speaker 9 (01:12:24):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:12:24):
So I got his license plate in his video, and
I'm going to turn that over to the police this
afternoon to see if they really are going to follow
through and develop suspect information and take the next step when.

Speaker 4 (01:12:38):
They said they wanted him, When they said they wanted
him to buy these cards, what the hell were they
talking about? Like, how did he get back in touch
with them? If if they you know, they.

Speaker 3 (01:12:49):
Were they they called him, like, they called him many
many many times him Rick has okay, Yeah, Rick only
has a home phone number. So they called him many
many many times while we were hanging out at the
bank parking lot.

Speaker 4 (01:13:05):
Oh okay, and they said and they said he had
to part, he had to go get some Did they
say what the cards were going to be for?

Speaker 3 (01:13:14):
Uh, you know, we didn't care because he just kind
of agreed.

Speaker 9 (01:13:18):
To it, just to okay, got it, got it?

Speaker 3 (01:13:20):
If that will help facilitate a personal meetings, I can
get video of the guys.

Speaker 4 (01:13:24):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:13:24):
But here's the thing. When Rick got home, he he
got another call from the scammer. Yeah, and he told
the scammer, hey, man, I was there right right. I
didn't see any black limousines, so I finally left. Yeah,
And the guy says, oh, yeah, I was driving my
pickup truck instead.

Speaker 4 (01:13:44):
Okay, so the skin this is a stupid scammer.

Speaker 3 (01:13:48):
Yeah, yeah, he's not yet. We're not dealing with an
Einstein here.

Speaker 4 (01:13:51):
No, no, no, because they they they're not even making
their move. So what what were these cards he's supposed
to buy?

Speaker 3 (01:14:00):
So? I think they're called green Dot or Green Mind cards.
They're one of the many many cash cards cards turn
into cash.

Speaker 4 (01:14:09):
That's the movie.

Speaker 3 (01:14:10):
I think they sell them a yeah, like gas stations
and places like so that's.

Speaker 4 (01:14:13):
The move they want to and then and then he's
going to uh yeah, I get it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:20):
So anyway, so now you know so uh so today
that information is going to go over to the wheat
Rich Police, who did promise me they'll investigate this. And
so I'm either turning over pictures of the scammer or
or some fed that replied to mine that you know,
came as a result of my invitation without telling me.

Speaker 4 (01:14:41):
Yeah but whatever, that guy looks suspicious to you. What
was he dressed all?

Speaker 16 (01:14:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:14:46):
Or did he have a suit or what? Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:14:49):
No, he was dressed like that Instagram douche. So it's
jeans and a T shirt that are way too tight
and the huge watch, you know, the huge Yeah, yeah,
his wrist, and so he looked exactly like like I
pictured a scammer like that to look.

Speaker 4 (01:15:08):
So, where did we leave it with the scam Where
did we leave it with the scammer? Are we just
going to let the police investigate? Now?

Speaker 3 (01:15:15):
We're going to just leave him hanging for a while
until the police tell me what their next step is.

Speaker 4 (01:15:21):
So I don't know how did this guy next step?
Did this guy? Did this guy say he was at
the bank and he was in his pickup truck, That's
what he said. How did he expect how did he
expect Rick to identify him? Did he mention that, I mean,
if he shows up at the bank and Rick is there,
did he mention how Rick is supposed to know him?
Did they? Hey, that's the part I don't understand.

Speaker 3 (01:15:43):
Yeah, well, initially, you know, the idea was the scammer
is going to show up in a black limousine with
two FBI agents. So if I saw a black limousine
pull up, I would have known that's him. Instead, he
showed up in a pickup truck with blackout windows, and
that's why the my suspicion that that was him. Okay,

(01:16:03):
so we're gonna leave the scammer hanging, and we're going
to see if the police really do take the next step,
which is uh, they will. They will actually come to
the meeting posing as Rick. That would be cool, And
then of course.

Speaker 4 (01:16:18):
I'll go to that.

Speaker 3 (01:16:18):
Yeah, and then of course I'll go to that meeting
too to video record the whole thing. And they even broadcast.

Speaker 4 (01:16:24):
Well again again, I've never heard of a dumber scammer
in the world. They they would have moved in a
lot sooner. I don't even understand it. Does he have
a phone number where he can call them?

Speaker 3 (01:16:37):
Yeah, he has the scammer's phone number.

Speaker 4 (01:16:39):
He does. I wonder if we should just call them.

Speaker 3 (01:16:44):
Well, let's see. I mean, I think we should go
another step or two to see if we can set
up a sting and get this guy busted. And if
the police don't do anything about it, then we can
do it ourselves.

Speaker 6 (01:16:56):
What do you think?

Speaker 4 (01:16:57):
All right? Good? Good? Three?

Speaker 6 (01:16:58):
All?

Speaker 4 (01:16:59):
Three seven to one, three eight, two, five to five.
So that's where we left it. Somebody did show up,
suspicious looking walking around the bank. They didn't make contact
Rick and the scammer did not make contract. They did
not have a new Mercedes on a pickup truck on
a flatbed. But you see, if they were really smart scammers,
they could have shown up with the Mercedes on a flatbed.

(01:17:22):
Listen to this. Then they could have met him and
said you got to pay the sales tax, and they
start lowering the Mercedes out of the truck. Now listen
to this. Right, he goes in, He hands them the
check for the sales tax, the cashier's check, and then
the guy drives off in the in the tow truck,
and the guy in the Mercedes drives off and they're done.

(01:17:45):
That would be there. I mean, if you met somebody
at a bank and they had a brand new Mercedes,
said look, we're unloading it right here here, here are
the keys, giving bogus keys. We need a check cashier's
check for the sales tax, and then you both take off,
one in the truck, one in the Mercedes with the
real keys. That see, I'm telling people how to be

(01:18:06):
smart scammers, although no, I'm just doing that jokingly. But
these guys, this guy seems to be an amateur, doesn't
know what he's doing, even to mention he's going to
show up at the guy's house with a Mercedes. If
you know you can't show up with a Mercedes. Why
are you saying that? I mean, that's what I'm getting at.
He did not The scammer did not come up with

(01:18:28):
the right moves. Usually what they do is call and
say you want and then try to get money from
you right away to pay sales tax. But in any case,
this is a stupid scammer and Rick. I'm glad Rick
called us because it is a scam. He didn't win
mega millions and we have more. Yeah, I'm confused.

Speaker 18 (01:18:47):
Why if he went into the bank, what was the
point of him going into the bank and just doing nothing.

Speaker 4 (01:18:54):
I don't know. Maybe he was looking for someone like Rick.
That's what I'm getting at. They had no they had
no like system for identifying each other. That's why I'm
saying that this scammer seems to be almost aimless. I mean,
I don't think he knows how to pull off the scam.
I think he was surprised when he called Rick, and

(01:19:15):
Rick played along saying yeah, I want my money, I
want the Mercedes, and the guy said okay, we'll be
there at your house today with the Mercedes and the
two FBI agents. Then Rick canceled it. And moved it
to the next day at the bank. I don't know.
I just don't. I think this guy doesn't know what
to do with a victim on the hook. That's that's

(01:19:35):
my guess. Three oh three seven to one to three
talks seven one three eight two five five. Go with
a sure thing Denver's best rufer Excel Roofing dot com.
You don't pay a cent until you're content. Time for

(01:19:56):
an insurance check up free, no obligation. In comparison, call
Compass Insurance paying too much your coverage at dozens of
insurance companies find out now three oh three seven seven
to one. Help. You'll think you're his only customer when
you choose Frank durand the real estate Man dot com
to list your home with Remax Alliance. Three oh three
nine two zero sixteen twenty two. Hi Tom Martino here

(01:20:24):
three three seven one three talk seven one three eight
two five. Now I'm not sure why Rick is calling in. Uh?
Is there something to add to what Deputy D talked about?
But Rick is the one that was told he won
mega millions and a new Mercedes And I'm not sure Rick,
did you have something to add that? Uh? Deputy D

(01:20:46):
did not cover.

Speaker 8 (01:20:48):
Yeah, he called me just a while ago after I
talked to d.

Speaker 4 (01:20:51):
Oh good, Okay, what did now this scammer We're still
trying to figure out. This scammer sounds stupid. We don't
have another. I mean, he just doesn't sound like he
knows how to extract money or what to do. So
what would what did he call you about?

Speaker 8 (01:21:08):
I told him that I met him and he didn't
show up, and and hething, did you get the card?
And I said, yeah, I got the cards? And he says,
what's the numbers on the cards? Give me the number?

Speaker 4 (01:21:19):
Yeah. So what did he say the payment was for? Though?
That's the part we don't understand.

Speaker 8 (01:21:25):
That was the one percent tax on something or whatever.

Speaker 4 (01:21:28):
Okay, so he did say he wanted you to pay taxes.
He did say that.

Speaker 8 (01:21:35):
Yeah, Well he didn't say taxes. I don't Well maybe
he did. I don't know.

Speaker 6 (01:21:39):
He might have.

Speaker 8 (01:21:40):
He wanted me to put four hundred on one card
and five hundred on the other card.

Speaker 4 (01:21:45):
That is now that makes sense. So and you told him,
you told him that you did have them.

Speaker 8 (01:21:53):
Yeah, I told him I bought the cars, but then
I hung up on him after that.

Speaker 4 (01:21:56):
I didn't say, you do have a number for this guy?

Speaker 8 (01:22:00):
Yeah, I got his phone number.

Speaker 4 (01:22:04):
Huh. I'm wondering if he would.

Speaker 5 (01:22:07):
Pick up the phone if you called him.

Speaker 4 (01:22:09):
I wonder like, like, if you call him, does he
pick up the phone? Oh?

Speaker 8 (01:22:14):
Yeah, Well a lady answers the phone and says, what's
your name? And then I tell him my name, picks
up the phone.

Speaker 4 (01:22:25):
I'm wondering how they brother, you know, yeah, I'm just
wondering how to get this guy, how to get this
guy caught? I mean, so, what did he say would
happen after you pay this money? What did he say
would happen?

Speaker 8 (01:22:44):
Then I would get the Mercedes and the check and
a ten thousand dollars bonus.

Speaker 9 (01:22:53):
I wont okay, I'm going.

Speaker 8 (01:22:55):
Over there to file a police report right now.

Speaker 4 (01:22:57):
Okay, that's good. What kind of a number is it?
In fact, you know what? I am going to give
out the number I want everybody to call. Okay, what
tell me? I want to write it down? What's the number?

Speaker 8 (01:23:12):
Nine one five two three six two three.

Speaker 4 (01:23:18):
Six nineteen nineteen, nineteen nineteen. I want people to call
and say that they're related to you and they want
to get information for you. I don't care what you
guys say. So these guys can say anything they want.

Speaker 5 (01:23:34):
Everybody be really okay.

Speaker 6 (01:23:36):
Everybody can everybody gets the Mercedes.

Speaker 19 (01:23:40):
Yeah, just like Coprah.

Speaker 4 (01:23:43):
I just I don't know this whole thing, the Mercedes.
This whole thing has me crazy, this whole thing. But
but thanks for getting the information we got that scammer's
phone number nine one five two three six, nineteen nineteen.
Tell me what he says. Call up and say I'm
a friend of ricks. I want to make money too now,

(01:24:05):
or ask him what the money's for. Do whatever you want.
Tell me what kind of information you get from that
number nine one five two three six nineteen nineteen. And uh,
I wish there was a way to call without giving
my phone number. Do if I do Star six seven
on my cell phone, we'll up block my number and
I can do it Star six seven. I'm going to

(01:24:27):
do it. Then I dial nine one five two three six.
I want to do this nineteen and see what he says.
I want to hear what this guy says. I'm going
to put it up to my ear and hear hold on.

Speaker 11 (01:24:42):
Okay, your name I get to call on.

Speaker 10 (01:24:43):
You want folks to take nick.

Speaker 4 (01:24:46):
This is Rick's cousin. Hey, we'll see what he says.
The guy's not answer because they announced who's on the phone.

(01:25:08):
So Rick's cousin. I wonder if he'll if he'll answer.
It's just one ringing dingy, two, ringing dingy three, ringing
dog on it, so I was hoping he'd pick up. Yeah.
So it's a Google number and they say he's not available.
So that's how he's getting around. So it's a Google number,

(01:25:28):
you have to announce who you are. He's not going
to answer it. He's he's shielding himself. So basically it's
a bunch of crap. I mean, you're you're just not
going to find it. We're not going to find this
guy as far as or not get to talk to him.
But i'd like to know if you call them what
he said. Maybe you can call him, just say, just

(01:25:49):
give your first name. I don't know. His number is
nine one five two three six nineteen nineteen. He may
even change his number after we do this. But so far,
what we know is that now he wants Rick to
pay the tax for the prize. That's what that's what
we know right now. He wants Rick to pay the

(01:26:09):
tax and he asked Rick. So now at least he's
not as stupid as he was in the beginning. At
least he's asking for something, because before he just said
he was going to meet him. Now, if you really
wanted to pull a scam, think about this, Think about
meeting someone really and you do have a car with you,
I mean you could borrow it from a friend and
scam people. You guys could scam the hell out of

(01:26:30):
people by showing up with a car to guy's bank,
getting the sales tax. Then you take off in the
car and this guy is looking at the car thinking
he's going to get it anyway. We have more coming
up on the Troubleshooter Show. We'll find out what your
calls did to this guy. Right after this. Go with

(01:26:53):
a sure thing Denver's Best Roofer Excel Roofing dot com.
You don't pay a cent until you're content, wait time
for an insurance check up free, no obligation. In comparison,
call Compass Insurance paying too much your coverage at dozens
of insurance companies. Find out now three all three, seven
to seven to one help. You'll think you're his only

(01:27:14):
customer When you choose Frank durand the real estate man
dot com to list your home with Remax Alliance three
all three nine two zero sixteen twenty two. Hi Tom Martino,
your troubleshooter three oh three seven one three talk seven
one three eight two five five. So did any of
you call the scammer nine one five two three six

(01:27:34):
nineteen nineteen. You probably could not get through because you
have to leave a name. This is a guy who
said that Rick won the Mega millions and then said
he would meet him at the bank. Never showed up,
but now says you have to pay the sales tax
and again, uh, I want to know if anyone was

(01:27:56):
able to get through. People are telling me in text
that they weren't able. It just rang and rang and
rang like mine. And then it said the Google voicemail
subscriber is unavailable. So it looks like he's avoiding calls
from anyone but Rick, or maybe he knows exactly the
number he wants to be called from. All Right, I

(01:28:17):
have a text question about buying a used car, and
of course I get this all the time. They want
to buy a Nissan or a Toyota. Okay, I want
this concept to come through because I'm not trying to
be a smart ass, but I want to tell you
that is not the way to look at it. Let

(01:28:38):
me explain this. Buying a Toyota or a Nissan used
is a bad value. Now you're gonna say, wait a minute,
those are the best cars. Careful, you're gonna upset d
well as a used car. They're a bad value. Meaning
and I'll ask these two guys. If you take a price,

(01:29:01):
let's just say twenty six thousand dollars for a used car,
and you take the same year for a used car.
I don't know what would be in that twenty six
thousand dollars range, but maybe two thousand and twenty maybe.

Speaker 6 (01:29:23):
Right, Yeah, depending on models.

Speaker 4 (01:29:26):
Let's say it's a twenty twenty twenty six thousand dollars
you want to spend. You tell me, will you get
more of a car buying a Chevy or a Ford
or a Dodge, or will you get more of a
car buying a Toyota a Nissan of that vintage that year.
I'm telling you that because the Toyota does not depreciate,

(01:29:49):
because the Nissan does not depreciate a lot. Because they're
good new car values, they're going to be artificially high.

Speaker 5 (01:29:56):
Yep, it's true.

Speaker 4 (01:29:58):
So you can find car for car. Now we're not
talking about brands, because as it gets used the kinks
are worked out. You will have more car for the
dollar in the used car market. If you buy a
terrible new car value. Can you understand what I'm saying now?

(01:30:20):
Toyota and Nissan and some other Japanese cars, what else
would we put in their? Accura? What else? Honda? Well no, no,
that's Korean. I would say. What would you say? Nissan, Toyota, Honda,
Honda and Accura. You will find them are great new

(01:30:42):
car values. They are great great new car values because
they do not depreciate a lot. But because they don't
depreciate a lot, as you rack up miles and years,
the price doesn't go down that far. So you're paying
too much for them as used cars. If you have

(01:31:04):
the same dollars being spent on American used cars, you
will get way more car for the money with way
less miles. That's the point. I'm trying to make way
less as far as the cost, so you will get
more cars. So here's the rule of thumb. And again

(01:31:27):
I've done this before and told people the best new
car values are the worst used car values, and the
worst new car values are the best used car value

(01:31:47):
because when you're looking for used, if something depreciates really quickly,
you're going to have something next to new that doesn't
cost as much as Toyota a Nissan, and it'll be
way newer and better. Now when it comes to getting
to use, yes, they last a long time, but why

(01:32:08):
would you want a Toyota with one hundred thousand miles
on it when you could get a Chevy or Ford
with forty five or fifty thousand on it. Because that's
the differential. You almost have to go way higher mileage
and way older to get the same price as a
nearly new Ford, Chevy or Dodge. And that's just the

(01:32:29):
way it is. I mean, it's just it's all in
the math.

Speaker 6 (01:32:33):
Now.

Speaker 4 (01:32:34):
I have another another text here on Oh yeah. This
one has to do with runaway management companies that they're
not calling you that. In the text, they want to
know what they can do about taking control back from
a management company. They're in an HOA controlled community, but

(01:32:56):
the HOA has become dormant over the years, but they
never went dormant before. They never made changes to the
management before going dormant. So here's what happens. They have
foregone their elections, they have foregone a lot of things,
and basically they're dormant. So the management company kind of
took over. And when the management company needs to vote

(01:33:19):
on something, they just put a notice out to the
homeowner saying, you know, we're proposing this, and then they say,
if you don't want to vote, just please send us
your proxy. And because the HOA is lax and there's
no one out there campaigning for or against something, the
management company gets to institute it. So the management company says,
we're going to do a pain job, or we're going

(01:33:41):
to do repaving, or we're going to do this. Even
the management company has even been known to vote themselves.
They can say management has become very expensive, we need
a ten percent increase in our management fee, and they
put out a vote and nobody responds, and the management
company takes the uxy and votes it in. So it's

(01:34:02):
I call it a runaway management company because what is
happening is the management company is on their own. They're
totally on their own, doing exactly what they want. And
if they have to put something up for a vote,
they voted in with a proxy. If you don't vote,
you automatically give your vote to the management company. So

(01:34:25):
there are management companies right now in communities where the
HOA has no input, not because they don't have input legally,
but because they are not taking the initiative to give
the input. So, if you're in one of these communities
where you have a management company who has been on

(01:34:48):
wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm going to continue this,
but Mandy says she got a hold of the scammer. Mandy,
you called the number nine one, five, two, three six,
nineteen nineteen. What happened.

Speaker 15 (01:35:00):
Called? I called it? It kept saying the Google phone, Yeah, yeah,
the message, and then I called it a bunch of
times and then he ended up calling me back on
my phone number. I didn't even leave a message.

Speaker 4 (01:35:12):
What and what did he say?

Speaker 15 (01:35:14):
He automatically like was like, oh, you're calling about the
sweep steaks And really, I pretended like I was an
elderly person. Yeah, and he uh started going. I said,
I don't know how I would have uh signed up
for this or anything. And he said named off seven
eleven dollar, tree, dollar General, every one of those. Have

(01:35:36):
you ever stopped there.

Speaker 3 (01:35:37):
Yes, oh, well that's how you got enrolled.

Speaker 11 (01:35:41):
And then he said that, uh.

Speaker 4 (01:35:44):
Oh, he's really stupid.

Speaker 15 (01:35:46):
I told him that I needed to I said, okay,
well I need to use the restroom, Sir, can I
call call you back? And he said for me to
call him back.

Speaker 8 (01:35:56):
When I'd done.

Speaker 4 (01:35:57):
And he so he was going about to tell you
how to go and get one of those green dot cards.

Speaker 15 (01:36:01):
Right, yeah, he asked me if I was at the bank.
Oh my god, I don't know if he was confusing
me with somebody else.

Speaker 4 (01:36:08):
Yeah, you know this guy, this guy doesn't even keep
track of the people because he's trying to figure out
Oh yeah, you're calling about the sweep sakes. So he says,
you're automatically enrolled when you.

Speaker 15 (01:36:19):
Yes, if I got a if I shocked at one
of those stores and it was a vast it was
Dollar General, Dollar Tree Family dollars seven.

Speaker 4 (01:36:29):
Eleven, Mandy, hold on, I want to see if we
want you to call back and what to say. Ray,
you got a hold of him too. Now he might
be getting suspicious if all these people are getting through.
What did he say say to you, Ray?

Speaker 13 (01:36:44):
Well, here, well, I told him I went to the
bank and he didn't show up, but I still.

Speaker 3 (01:36:49):
Wanted my car and my money.

Speaker 4 (01:36:50):
Okay.

Speaker 13 (01:36:51):
He asked me, did I have the the Green Dot
cards because he.

Speaker 8 (01:36:56):
Was sitting there, Oh my god, federal.

Speaker 13 (01:36:58):
Authorities, and he needed numbers and he wanted me to
read the numbers to him off the cars.

Speaker 4 (01:37:04):
So he mistook you for Rick. He's thinking you're wreck
right now?

Speaker 13 (01:37:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I said, I was getting nervous.
He says, well, just give me the numbers off of
one car so I can get you registered and I
can get you your car your money today.

Speaker 4 (01:37:18):
Can you get a read Green Dot card for five
bucks or does it.

Speaker 5 (01:37:21):
Have to be I think they're just like the gift
cards at King Supers. You can just pick them up
and they're not inactivated until you charge them.

Speaker 13 (01:37:29):
Do they So I didn't even get a card. I
made up fourteen random numbers, read it to him.

Speaker 4 (01:37:35):
Did he take him down? What did he say?

Speaker 13 (01:37:38):
Yeah? He he wanted me to repeat the number, but
of course, because I was just making up a number,
I couldn't repeat it. Then he asked me whether or
not I wanted the card or not. He kept trying
to insist that I reading the number again. And so
I just had fun with him.

Speaker 8 (01:37:56):
For a while.

Speaker 4 (01:37:57):
Oh my goodness, gracious, this guy has really stupid not
to suspect anything.

Speaker 8 (01:38:02):
I'm wondering here without a doubt.

Speaker 4 (01:38:04):
Thank you for calling, though, though rad I appreciate it.
And Mandy, if you can hang on me, he might
still think you're a live pigeon that he can take
advantage of. So let's take this quick break and come
back and see what we can do. Go with a
sure thing Denver's Best roofer Excel Roofing dot com. You

(01:38:26):
don't pay a cent until you're content. Time for an
insurance checkup free, no obligation. In comparison, call Compass Insurance
paying too much your coverage at dozens of insurance companies
find out now three all three seven to seven to
one help. You'll think you're his only customer when you
choose Frank durand the real estate Man dot com to

(01:38:47):
list your home with Remax Alliance three all three nine
two zero sixteen twenty two and her husband and I'm

(01:39:08):
on the air, damn it. We had him on hold
all that time and he hung up. Doug Gonet. We
were trying to get him on the air, but I
had to technically tell him we're on the air, and
I was going to tell him that and tell him
we're so excited about winning his name. He identified himself
as Peter Myers. Was that Kelly, You did a good

(01:39:33):
job getting him. How did you get him? Kelly? Did
he plastic?

Speaker 5 (01:39:36):
She was back here a working.

Speaker 4 (01:39:37):
I know she did a great job keeping him on hold.
But as soon as he heard I don't know why
he would hang up. I don't either. You said, my
husband's coming right to the phone, and I said, don't
stay away.

Speaker 11 (01:39:47):
Proper, No, I said, my husband has a couple of questions.

Speaker 6 (01:39:49):
Just hang on.

Speaker 11 (01:39:50):
Because I was looking up the Mercedes online.

Speaker 4 (01:39:54):
Which Mercedes did you win? It was the truck. So, Mandy,
I wonder if you call back if this guy still
thinks you're on the hook. So if you call back
and give your name as Mandy and gave different all right, well, Sarah,

(01:40:15):
tell call back and tell him that I would just
come around and say, look, I was so excited that
I won this prize that I called my cousin who's
on the radio, and he would love to He would

(01:40:38):
love to interview me and you about this prize. Let's
just say that and see what he says, let me know. Okay,
well call us right back, okay, goodbye, and then call
us back all right, so we'll see. We're just trying
to get this guy in the radio. And anyway, I
think that Dimitri said we just messed up is undercover operation.

(01:41:03):
We probably did. But you know, here's the thing. We
just want to have some fun with this guy and
stop them. And I think he knows the jig is
up at this point, unless he's some kind of idiot. Okay, So,
as I was saying about runaway management companies, if you
have a management company and you haven't had HA meetings

(01:41:24):
and you haven't had anything, go to your bylaws. There's
a way for an individual to take control. Each and
every one of you homeowners have the power to start
an HOA or to reignowe I should say resurrect in hoa.
So you can there is a way to do it.
All you do is nominate people, have an election, get
an HOA, and you are automatically in control over the

(01:41:46):
management company. The management company does not have control over you.
They will make it sound and look as if they do,
but they do not. Listen. Do you know why hoas
and condos are not selling well. Right now, I'm going
to tell you first it's the insurance issue. The insurance
is becoming out of sight. Special assessments that are looming

(01:42:09):
over many of these projects for the paving, for the
rebuilding of the swimming pool, or for the paint jobs,
or for roofing, the deductibles on insurance are prohibitive. People
in HOA controlled condos and townhomes and those kinds of things,
they are absolutely facing out rageous expenses. So on top

(01:42:31):
of your mortgage, you could end up you could literally
end up doubling your mortgage with all these expenses. Now,
because of these management companies being out of control, you
if you don't have an active HOA, you must get
an active ha. That doesn't mean you're going to fire
the company. I'm not telling you the management company is

(01:42:51):
doing a bad idea, I mean a bad job. But
what they are doing is they're managing without your knowledge
and consent. You guys got to take control back, So
get your CHOI started. If you need help, call me
at three oh three Martino. We'll tell you how to
do it. We got an expert stand the HOA man

(01:43:12):
who will help you reignite or resurrect your HOA. Then
you can then control what the management company does instead
of just having them dictate terms and conditions. More coming up.
Go with a sure thing Denver's Best Roofer Excel Roofing
dot com. You don't pay a cent until you're contenth

(01:43:33):
time for an insurance check up free, no obligation. In comparison,
call Compass Insurance paying too much your coverage at dozens
of insurance companies find out now three oh three seven
seven to one help. You'll think you're his only customer
when you choose Frank durand the real estate Man dot
com to list your home with Remax Alliance three oh
three nine two zero sixteen twenty two D so you

(01:44:04):
don't have come running.

Speaker 8 (01:44:08):
Just as fast as we can.

Speaker 2 (01:44:11):
Shooter's gonna help come.

Speaker 4 (01:44:14):
Dix is the Troubleshooter Show. No Tom Martine, I'm Tom Martino.
Welcome to the show. Okay, we've had a lot going
on today. I talked about various topics that came up
on the show, and then of course we had the
scammer and Dimitri started this. It started in his camp.

(01:44:37):
Deputy d I'll set to stage, tell you what's happen
because we have an update. So Rick, a consumer calls
us and said he got a phone call saying he
won the Mega millions and a Mercedes. The scammer wanted
to come to his house with two FBI agents and
the car and the check. Dmitri wanted to be part

(01:45:01):
of it, to record it for the show or to
show it for the show, and he thought it would
be a bad idea to have a confrontation at this
guy's house or for the scammers to know where he lives.
So instead, Dmitri recommended that they meet at his bank,
or supposedly. I don't know if it is really his

(01:45:23):
bank or not, but to meet at the bank. The
scammers agreed, so Deputy d and Rick went to the
bank this morning to wait for the scammer. No Mercedes
showed up on a flatbed like they said, but some
suspicious guy in a pickup truck got out and walked
around the bank and came back out and got in
the truck and left, and Dmitri recorded that guy and

(01:45:46):
the wheatwrig. Police said, okay, we might start an investigation.
Dmitri wanted to let the police take it from there
or maybe even Deputy d try to get another meeting.
Blah blah blah. Right in the meantime, I just said,
when this scammer when Rick called me about the scammer,
the original victim, he had a phone number, a callback number,

(01:46:08):
So I said, wouldn't it be fun if my people
all call this scammer back wanting to be part of it?
What would he say? Is he stupid? Would he really
go along with us? So we told everyone to call
nine one five two three six nineteen nineteen, and then
even even Kaschinachlori did it. She got him to come

(01:46:30):
on on the phone with her and I was going
to put him on the radio, but he hung up.
So bottom line is Mandy was the only one able
to actually talk to the guy where the guy said
to go buy some gift cards, and I told Mandy
to play play along. Mandy, what happened? What's the latest
on this scammer?

Speaker 20 (01:46:50):
Okay, So he feels like he's been talking to me,
I guess for a lot, way longer.

Speaker 15 (01:46:56):
Than he has.

Speaker 4 (01:46:57):
He's confusing you, he's confusing you with another victim he
probably has on the string.

Speaker 20 (01:47:01):
Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. And he so he thinks I'm heading.
He's keep asking me, you're alone. He said, don't let
anyone up in your business, and make sure you don't
tell anybody about what's going on.

Speaker 4 (01:47:17):
All right, you're alone?

Speaker 13 (01:47:19):
Right?

Speaker 8 (01:47:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 15 (01:47:21):
I told him.

Speaker 20 (01:47:22):
He said where are you? I said, I'm in gree
Weave and he said, okay, uh are you almost your bank?
And I said, I'll be to my banks soon to
take out and he I didn't know, and he said,
pays take out nine hundreds. Then he wants me to
go to any dollar store, family dollars, and then I

(01:47:43):
get super pay cars of course, you know the whole thing.
And then he's gonna pull up with my cor when
he right, when he gets those numbers, and he said,
you know, see everything that he said, yeah, it can

(01:48:03):
be held against him. And he said he's reciting, but
uh yeah, Cardilow. So he's definitely not lying to me.

Speaker 4 (01:48:15):
Okay, So okay, so he he is really playing. We
got to figure out how we can make this work
since he thinks he has a pigeon, and we got
to figure it out.

Speaker 20 (01:48:24):
And they said, how long is it going to be
before you can get the money and do everything? They
said about thirty minutes and he's everything's gonna be okay, sweedy,
everything is gonna be okay.

Speaker 4 (01:48:35):
Okay, he's thinking he's going to make a thousand or
nine hundred bucks. Here, how many cards do you have
to buy to get nine hundred? Can you buy him
in one? Two? What?

Speaker 8 (01:48:46):
What?

Speaker 5 (01:48:47):
That says?

Speaker 6 (01:48:47):
It's a maximum three thousand per card, So she can
get one card on one card.

Speaker 4 (01:48:52):
So he wants you to buy one card and call
him with the number right, No, he.

Speaker 20 (01:48:56):
Wants me to to He specifically said two are specifically
one for five hundred.

Speaker 19 (01:49:03):
Okay, okay, Now is there a way I'm dead serious
to get two cards worth a dollar and we can
feed them two cards worth a dollar.

Speaker 4 (01:49:14):
I don't know what's the minimum on those cards.

Speaker 6 (01:49:17):
Well, it says he's got an eight dollar monthly fee.
If it's under five.

Speaker 4 (01:49:20):
Hundred, oh so probably damn it.

Speaker 6 (01:49:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:49:23):
Anyway, Mandy, just leave your number. We're gonna figure something out.
Whatever you do, though, don't meet that guy now. Robert,
you have a question on a twenty seventeen GMC Sierra Diesel.
What is your car? By the way, our Sierra Diesel's
good vehicles, guys, the GMCs.

Speaker 5 (01:49:42):
Most definitely, Yeah, and that's that's back when Allison was
actually making the transmission too. So he's got a tough truck.

Speaker 4 (01:49:49):
Is that a Cummins? Yes, you got a nice truck.
Duramax Okay, good Diesel, Duramax and Alison transmission. So what
is your question?

Speaker 8 (01:50:00):
So I did that? I mean hopefully it's a basic question,
but I don't know the answer. So so so if
I changed.

Speaker 18 (01:50:06):
Oil today, it'll say at one hundred percent, So what
is that one percent?

Speaker 8 (01:50:11):
Uh?

Speaker 6 (01:50:12):
How many miles is that about?

Speaker 4 (01:50:14):
Yeah? What?

Speaker 16 (01:50:15):
What?

Speaker 4 (01:50:15):
How do those work when it says you're oil is
fifty percent gone?

Speaker 5 (01:50:18):
It's just strictly a timer. Yeah, it's the clock. It
works off the time, and it works off.

Speaker 4 (01:50:23):
Miles and miles and time yep, yep. So it's is
it pretty accurate to whatever interval it is?

Speaker 6 (01:50:31):
It's whatever interval? Yeah, I mean you should have your
own interval written down ice.

Speaker 4 (01:50:35):
Yeah. Yeah, you shouldn't go by that. There's nothing wrong
with it. But what they're saying is they these guys
like to change it on their own intervals. Didn't you
say about six thousand miles?

Speaker 6 (01:50:45):
Nowadays I'd go five just because of sludge problems.

Speaker 4 (01:50:48):
Yeah, with diesel, would you get five? Okay? Any so
they're saying every five thousand miles no matter what that says.

Speaker 5 (01:50:54):
Yep, okay, man. The easiest way to track that is
take your because you've got two triple dometers on. There
's your second triple doometer, and use that to clock
your mileage and you know when to change your oil.

Speaker 4 (01:51:04):
You think everyone should be ten five thousand.

Speaker 6 (01:51:06):
Oh yeah, yeah, they say ten to twelve on a
lot of many.

Speaker 4 (01:51:09):
My beamer says every ten thousand miles.

Speaker 5 (01:51:12):
Admittedly I go between six and seven.

Speaker 4 (01:51:14):
Okay, I'm going too long right now, Kevin, and I
got to get it into you. It says I have
forty nine hundred miles left on the ten thousand interval,
So forty nine hundred so I'm right at about five
a little.

Speaker 6 (01:51:27):
I'm tied to pushing that number.

Speaker 5 (01:51:28):
Now, don't scrimp on the filter. Get good quality for now, ye'ah.

Speaker 4 (01:51:32):
Let Kevin take care of all that. And here's the deal.
You know, oil is the cheapest thing you can do.

Speaker 9 (01:51:38):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:51:38):
Keep that oil changed. Transmission fluids, coolant, all of the
life bloods of the engine. That's what you need. You
need to make sure they're in good shape. So talking
about the fluids, we have transmission, engine, oil, and coolant.
What else? Those are the three? Right? You got break fluid, power, steering,

(01:52:02):
all of that.

Speaker 6 (01:52:03):
And you got other differentials and transfer cases that have
clutches in them now too, they're not just straight gear
to gear. So you want to change differentials and transfer
case fluids as well.

Speaker 4 (01:52:12):
That's true, and you gotta what I do. And again
I'm not recommending this, but I bought a used uh
used g wagon one time, and I had the dealer
due the transmission, the oil, the transfer cases, the coolant,
the brakes, and the and the steering fluid, I said,

(01:52:32):
I want to bring it all to zero. I know
today I have new fluids, and I know from this
day forward how many miles on each. Then I was
able to spec out my my time interval from that. Now,
do these fluids go both time and mileage or not?

(01:52:55):
I don't think time anymore. You think so just miling
just mileage? Yeah, so go by mileage, I mean, unless
you know.

Speaker 5 (01:53:04):
The reason to go time is just to give you
a reminder to actually do it.

Speaker 4 (01:53:07):
Right right, But really mileage is the key, and most
people have a few o dometers uh trip triple dometers
they can use, or just write it down and know
when you're going to have to do it. I think people,
it's the cheapest thing you can do. So I'm not
recommending you do them all at once. But if you

(01:53:27):
have a used car and you don't know when they've
been done, it's great. I call it zero timing. So
from the day you purchase to put it into service,
you got a beautiful used car with all everything change.
That gives them time to look at it. And really
all of those together, they wouldn't be that expensive, would
it compared to it? I mean, yes, well what what

(01:53:52):
would they all? Cause, like all of.

Speaker 6 (01:53:54):
Them, it be up grand Wait for what.

Speaker 5 (01:54:01):
Because when you start getting the transmission of the differential
and whatnot, that's significantly more expensive than doing something like
an engine oil change. Okay, so depending on the on
the vehicle, I mean, you can talk several hundred dollars
just to do the transmission.

Speaker 13 (01:54:12):
Some of the.

Speaker 4 (01:54:15):
I'm going to buy a used car and I really
want to know it's conditioned and I want to be safe.
I mean, there are a lot of people who have
no idea when the last time their stuff was done.
Now if someone takes meticulous care of their car. Let's
say they go to somebody like Kevin or Jeff, and
you guys have the records there. That's different. If you
can get the maintenance records, then of course you don't

(01:54:35):
have to do that. You would do just what you
need to do when you need to do it. That's
what I love people who sell cars with maintenance records.
And of course being from the aircraft and being an
aviation that is so important. In fact, it's mandatory. Most
of the maintenance is mandatory that it be logged and
it be signed. So you know, I wish they had

(01:54:58):
for cars not manned to tour. I don't want to
see more laws on the books, but I wish they
had a log book. I wish they had a book.

Speaker 6 (01:55:05):
Yeah, but to keep track of all the manufacturers telling
you have lifetime fluid and the oil manufacturers telling you that.

Speaker 4 (01:55:12):
Would be wrong with a person buying a log book,
I'm very serious, and writing down the mileage and what
they did.

Speaker 5 (01:55:20):
It holds a higher resale value if you can tract
the records.

Speaker 4 (01:55:24):
It Just imagine handing someone a little log of everything
you've done on that vehicle. That would really be o
good that. I think that's a cool idea. And hell,
it doesn't cost much. I mean it doesn't cost but
the price of a of a log and and and
and write it down. I mean I think I would
be so impressed. Then you know when the timing bell

(01:55:46):
was done. If it was done, you'll know when all
of when, the when the transfer axles or the transmission
the coolant break fluid. You just write it down. I'm
Tom Martinez. We got more coming up. Three all three
seven to one, three eight two five five. Go with
a sure thing Denver's best roofer Excel Roofing dot com.

(01:56:08):
You don't pay a cent until you're content. Time for
an insurance checkup free no obligation comparison call Compass Insurance
paying too much your coverage at dozens of insurance companies
find out now three all three seven seven to one.
Help You'll think you're his only customer when you choose
Frank durand the real estate Man dot com to list

(01:56:30):
your home with Remax Alliance three all three nine two
zero sixteen twenty two. Hi Tom Martine here, Welcome to
the show. And uh Jenesei's Total Exteriors. Remember we had
them on talking about what they do with stucco and
paint and and uh they do siding. They also do
mold detection and remediation Genesis tootalexteriors dot Com. So let's

(01:56:53):
talk to uh Bill who has a comment on the
oil change. Then I'll go to Brad Bill. What did
you have to say about oil changes?

Speaker 12 (01:57:00):
Well, you know, I got a Chevrolet and I got
it's a twenty twenty one Colorado, and I've already done
two I think two oil changes on it and I
got the change the oil thing on the dashboard. Well,

(01:57:22):
I only got nineteen hundred miles on.

Speaker 4 (01:57:24):
The car total.

Speaker 8 (01:57:26):
It must be by the clock.

Speaker 12 (01:57:27):
With that, with that, with them, huh, what.

Speaker 4 (01:57:31):
Do you guys say?

Speaker 6 (01:57:32):
Well, yeah, it definitely goes time and miles with the
meter on the car. Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (01:57:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (01:57:37):
If I only got nineteen hundred miles, nineteen hundred, Bill,
what year is it to twenty one and you.

Speaker 4 (01:57:43):
Only have nineteen hundred on the vehicle?

Speaker 8 (01:57:46):
Don't work?

Speaker 12 (01:57:46):
I don't go no where. My wife's got a car
and I got another car.

Speaker 5 (01:57:49):
Would you just drive it to the mailbox and back?

Speaker 12 (01:57:51):
Okay? I drive it around the block sometimes.

Speaker 4 (01:57:55):
Man, that's like brand new brother is to happen. That's
like a brand new, brand new vehicle.

Speaker 12 (01:58:01):
Yep, that's why I bought it at the end of
the lease in.

Speaker 4 (01:58:04):
I least, oh wow, you you lease had put nothing
on it, right, and it was worth way more than
you probably paid for it at the end of the lease,
wasn't it.

Speaker 8 (01:58:15):
I paid the residual.

Speaker 4 (01:58:16):
Yeah, which was how much?

Speaker 12 (01:58:17):
Out of curiosity, I forget for sure, but I think
it was around twenty three thousand dollars or something like that?

Speaker 4 (01:58:24):
Was your lease for ten thousand miles a year? Yes,
I don't think you can go less of that? Can you?
On alease?

Speaker 3 (01:58:30):
Now?

Speaker 6 (01:58:30):
I don't think so much.

Speaker 4 (01:58:31):
But anyway, thanks for calling Bill. A nice hear from
you again. Brad. You have a question on your Dodge Ram.
Is that right?

Speaker 19 (01:58:38):
Yeah?

Speaker 21 (01:58:39):
Sure do Tom go ahead. Twenty seventeen Dodge Ram Halftime.
It's the HEMI ever since I've had it. I've had
it service at the dealer and they've done a good
job for me. But I'm coming up on one hundred
thousand miles and they're telling me my next service is
due to poor set of spark plugs. But they're quoting

(01:59:03):
me a little over thirteen hundreds for.

Speaker 4 (01:59:06):
A wait, wait, wait, thirteen hundred just for spark.

Speaker 21 (01:59:10):
Plugs, that's what they're saying.

Speaker 4 (01:59:14):
Guys, what do you think?

Speaker 6 (01:59:16):
Yeah, off the top of my head, I'm not sure
it's not a cheap date because they have the coil
overs and the intake rides over top of.

Speaker 4 (01:59:22):
Some of the courteen hundred every cylinder.

Speaker 6 (01:59:25):
Obvious it's eight cylinder, but it could be upwards of
three to four hours. You know, about eight to nine
hundred dollars labor plus on my twenty bucks of plugs,
so it gets there quick.

Speaker 4 (01:59:37):
Brad, you're paying mostly labor on that.

Speaker 6 (01:59:39):
I'd be happy if you know, if he wants to
call shop shared an technic call, he'll quotch you over
the phone. Tell him I said a call.

Speaker 4 (01:59:46):
Yeah, they'll quote you on the phone three oh three
four five five seventy forty two.

Speaker 21 (01:59:52):
I will definitely give him a call and see what
we're at, because I you know, having just old Chevy
pickup trucks. That took me thir minutes to change my
spark plugs. I have no idea what it takes to
do this one.

Speaker 4 (02:00:05):
Yeah, so it's three oh three, four five five seventy
two forty two guys. Spark plugs in general, do they
wear a oh definitely, Oh yeah, okay.

Speaker 5 (02:00:15):
Better than they used to be. Yeah, there's a lot
better than they used to be. So at one hundred
thousand miles, he's definitely due.

Speaker 4 (02:00:20):
Okay. So what wears out the electrode in the middle.
The electrode in the middle, So the gap gets bigger.

Speaker 5 (02:00:26):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (02:00:26):
The biggest problem is it starts drawing more amporage through
the circuit. You could actually burn up the PCM in
the car because it over amps.

Speaker 4 (02:00:34):
There's normal for spark plugs as far as intervals nowadays.
I mean, I know the vehicle you can get that
many miles out. Well, that's that's almost for a lot
of people in the life of their car.

Speaker 5 (02:00:47):
Well yeah, I mean quite frankly, it's a lot different
than the days where you know, you took them out,
you cleaned them, regapped them and put them back in.

Speaker 4 (02:00:53):
You don't do this stuff.

Speaker 5 (02:00:54):
You don't do that anymore.

Speaker 4 (02:00:55):
On a tune up. You don't even do that right now.

Speaker 6 (02:00:57):
You don't even gap the plugs because I guess that's
a fine tip bottom. You'll knock the tip off if
you take.

Speaker 4 (02:01:01):
Wait a minute. So they come pre gap, so it's
pre gapped. So you have to buy the right gap
and the right plug.

Speaker 5 (02:01:09):
The right plug will come with the right gnapp.

Speaker 4 (02:01:11):
Okay, so if it's for that vehicle, it'll have the
right gapp. And really though with gaps, how much do
they differ? They don't differ that much, do they?

Speaker 6 (02:01:21):
Well not really, it's just if you don't drop them.
You drop a plug and may close the gap.

Speaker 4 (02:01:26):
And for people listening, the gap is the distance from
the the electrode that thing in the middle to the
two side the two side things. What are those side things?

Speaker 6 (02:01:36):
That's the base, well, just the tab, I guess you
could call it.

Speaker 4 (02:01:38):
Yeah, And the distance there dictates the size of the
spark correct, and the wider the distance, the more amps
it will pull. Wow, we're learning a lot. By the way,
I wanted to recap something that I thought was important,
and that is whereas okay, on this HUD thing, VIC

(02:02:00):
looks something up. On a typical situation, people are paying
as much as five hundred bucks each. Right, two people
in a place, did you say that in that hud
that you looked up.

Speaker 5 (02:02:14):
The HUD thing? You know where you're going?

Speaker 4 (02:02:16):
You looked up. You looked up some subdesigned housing. This
woman was complaining that they are charging her one hundred
and ten dollars instead of twenty five dollars. Yeah, twenty
five dollars would be if you had zero income. She's
trying to claim she has zero income. And she's saying
what they're doing is counting her college expenses as income. No,

(02:02:36):
they are not what they are doing. And I look
this up. They go through your expenses and the disallowed
expenses are added back to your income. So it looks
like they're saying it's income. They're not. They're saying it's
not not income. That's what they're saying. So and then
you looked at.

Speaker 5 (02:02:56):
I actually reached out. My daughter actually received assistance. So
she's mentally disabled. Yes, she's on the dole for who
anybody wants to put it that way.

Speaker 4 (02:03:07):
She has hot housing.

Speaker 5 (02:03:09):
It's not hot housing, but it is subsidized, okay, but
she pays over five hundred dollars a month and she's
required to work in order to actually receive that.

Speaker 4 (02:03:18):
Yeah, so this woman complaining, I swear to you that
they for some reason are they're not counting your college
expenses and they're choosing not to. Also, I wanted to mention, oh,
this came up, and a lot of people disputed this
with me. And I'll tell you guys, for example, this

(02:03:41):
membership at a car wash, it's not just a membership
at a car wash. It can happen with anything. It
can happen with any kind of pricing. They had a
thirty five dollars a month membership that people bought. Okay,
a lot of people bought it. Then they had a
special and they lowered the price to twenty five month.
So a lot of people were paying twenty five and

(02:04:02):
a lot of people were paying thirty five. So this
guy's argument was that when they lowered to from thirty
five to twenty five and offered a special, they should
have gone retroactive on him and started lowering his payment
from that day forward. No one does that. No one
does that. It's pricing is to attract customers. Pricing can change,

(02:04:26):
Pricing can change by time of year. Even a health club,
there are people with the same health club, same membership,
paying different amounts. Now, if you go and complain and
sign up with the new deal, they'll give you the
new deal. But they're not going to go retroactive and
change a price somebody disagreed with me and says, oh no,
no they changed. No, they don't. No one will do that.

(02:04:49):
Let's say commercials, we have different commercial rates. If they're
charging someone to advertise a certain amount, they're not going
to go back and retroactively change it if they gave
another client another deal. Same with television, the same with
any kind of pricing structure. Health clubs included. If you're
paying a certain amount that you agree to, you will

(02:05:12):
continue paying that amount. Now, if in fact you want
to get a lower amount, you can go and ask them,
can I get the new deal, and most likely they'll
give it to you. Just like with insurance. Sometimes signing
up for an insurance company you get a lower premium
for the first few years. And that's why Compass Insurance
Group constantly does that comparison. They shop for you, and

(02:05:34):
what they do is they compare the rates you're paying
with the new rates people have, and sometimes we'll get
you in the same company at a lower rate. That
happened to me with my supplement. Integra Insurance looked at
my supplement and said, newer people are paying less for
that supplement. So I was able to reapply for the

(02:05:59):
same supplement that I had and get the new rates.
And speaking of health, Denverregen dot com for neuropathy treatment
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suffering from neuropathy Denverregen dot com. Go with a sure

(02:06:20):
thing Denver's best roofer Excel Roofing dot com. You don't
pay a cent until you're content. Time for an insurance
check up free, no obligation. In comparison, call Compass insurance
paying too much your coverage at dozens of insurance companies
find out Now three O three seven seven to one help.
You'll think you're his only customer when you choose Frank

(02:06:42):
durand the real estate Man dot com to list your
home with Remax Alliance three oh three nine two zero
sixteen twenty two. Hi, I just asked my youtwo morons.
I'll ask you who's joining me Saturday night. I'm going
to a club restaurant, Lost Lake Lounge on East Colfax

(02:07:10):
and I shouldn't be around a lot of people. I'm getting.
You know, I had my last chemote treatment, but I
asked my doctor. They said, yeah, I just don't get
near people anyway, stay six feet away, uh something like that.

Speaker 6 (02:07:23):
You know.

Speaker 4 (02:07:23):
My last chemote treatment was Friday last week, and as
I get further away from it, I get healthier. But
I have a little dip in the white blood cell
count for fighting infections and stuff, and I get a
shot for that. But anyway, make a long story short.
Saturday night, my son's band is playing at Lost Lake
Lounge and they're the headliners. So I'm going to be there,

(02:07:45):
and I'm asking people to be there. You can go
to Lost hyphen Lake and buy tickets for Saturday night.
You're only like twenty bucks ors Lost Hyphenlake dot com.
Lost Hyphenlake dot com and some of my YouTube more
on might be there, but boo on some of them
who can't make it. Come on, Tim, you can make it.

(02:08:07):
Damn it. There's got to be and I expect to
see people there and come up and say hi to me.
I might be filming or videotaping it. I think it
sounds like fun. Okay. Let me go back to something
though that I wanted to highlight. I've gotten Margie called
and I thought, you know, it sounds okay, and then

(02:08:28):
I got a lot of messages after the show that
told me Margie might be onto something. This was from yesterday.
Margie said she rented a unit from public storage. Public
storage only offers month to month, so after she got
all her stuff in there, and after three months, it

(02:08:49):
rent up fifty percent and she said, now I can't
move everything again. She went on next Door, I think
she said, or Facebook and said a lot of people
are facing the same thing that public storage. They get
you in there and then raise your rates. And of
course there's nothing illegal about it. You have a month

(02:09:09):
to month contract, but that seems a little weird, and
I want to just tell people to beware of that
and see if you can get a longer term contract.
Right now, people are telling me they can't get longer
term contracts. One person who wrote to me said their
rent consistently goes up every three months. I mean, eventually
that becomes cost prohibitive and then you know, you know,

(02:09:31):
it's a hassle to move in and out of those lockers.
So that's just a little warning, Margie, I think you
were onto something. Bobby's got an issue with a used car.
Go ahead, Bobby, what's going on? Hey?

Speaker 10 (02:09:43):
You know, I think I'm going to preface this. I'm
pretty sure you're gonna call me a real idiot. No
we oh yeah, ye are? We purchased a used car
from a car broker in February granted Youth twenty thirteen, ford.

Speaker 4 (02:09:57):
Edge twenty thirteen.

Speaker 10 (02:09:58):
Okay, twenty first things granted. And I can't tell you
much bat it because it's not a car I drive.
My husband drives it. Everything went pretty smoothly. About three
weeks ago, anna free started leaking.

Speaker 4 (02:10:14):
When did you buy it? When did you buy it?

Speaker 10 (02:10:16):
February?

Speaker 4 (02:10:17):
February? Okay, So how many miles on it?

Speaker 16 (02:10:20):
That's more important to me now, And I honestly cannot
tell you, okay, because I die don't drive it.

Speaker 10 (02:10:27):
So I'm going to say it was probably at least
one hundred thousands.

Speaker 4 (02:10:29):
And what's going on with it?

Speaker 6 (02:10:30):
Now?

Speaker 4 (02:10:31):
What's going on with it?

Speaker 10 (02:10:34):
It locks up when you drive it, and that's because
the Anna freeze is leaking into the oil. I don't know,
and ana freeze is leaking out of the car into
other things.

Speaker 4 (02:10:45):
Now, hold on, do you have this is very important question.
Do you have Andy freeze or cooling in the oil?

Speaker 10 (02:10:54):
Did they have Anna freeze or cooling anywhere can't tell you.
I don't know. I'm not the person I should know
that thing.

Speaker 4 (02:11:00):
Who would you would? Any who would know? I mean,
because that means you got some major engine damage.

Speaker 10 (02:11:06):
Oh yeah, no, we've been told we need a new engine.
No no, no, yeah no, we've been told we need a
new engine. So we know that. Our question is, my
question is what do you do with a car that
you cannot afford a new engine for and are still
making payments on it? Do we just put in the
garage and say when it's paid for?

Speaker 4 (02:11:24):
Bobby, how much did you pay for this vehicle?

Speaker 10 (02:11:27):
About eight thousand?

Speaker 4 (02:11:29):
Okay you didn't. It's not terrible, but it depending Okay?
How much will it cost guys to fix that? Do
you think if she needed an engine?

Speaker 6 (02:11:38):
Guys, they got a V six and four son?

Speaker 4 (02:11:41):
Does it have a six or a four?

Speaker 10 (02:11:42):
Do you know it has a It has a six
and it's a three point three point.

Speaker 4 (02:11:46):
Five three point five? What will that cost?

Speaker 1 (02:11:50):
Use?

Speaker 6 (02:11:50):
Yeah, you use your probably every bit of eight grand.

Speaker 4 (02:11:53):
For a used engine? Eight thousand? You know, here's the deal.
How's the rest of the car?

Speaker 10 (02:12:00):
You know, it's in pretty good shape. I mean, it
doesn't have DNX or dents, the interior looks nice.

Speaker 4 (02:12:07):
Now, how much are you paying on this car? A month?

Speaker 10 (02:12:11):
About two fifty?

Speaker 4 (02:12:13):
Well, you know, I don't I have to tell you something.
I mean, if you just pay this off and you
have a piece of iron, that's not right. You could
try to sell it for whatever you can get for it,
and then supplement it and pay off the loan. But
in your case it may not be terrible seriously to

(02:12:34):
try to find a reliable used engine and and just
take a little bigger loan out. I know that sounds silly,
but if you're buried in it, as long as you
can pay it off. Like when is your payoff? How
many years did you finance this?

Speaker 10 (02:12:52):
It was a five years?

Speaker 4 (02:12:53):
Oh? God, years, God's on a used car? Five years
on a two thousand?

Speaker 8 (02:12:58):
First husband?

Speaker 10 (02:13:00):
Yeah, I think my husband did four or five years? Yeah,
he really strugged.

Speaker 4 (02:13:04):
Is this is your second vehicle?

Speaker 11 (02:13:06):
It is?

Speaker 4 (02:13:08):
Okay. I'm not so sure this is going to work
out for you at all. I honest to god, I
don't know what would you tell someone in this position.
How what would she get for this car if she
sold it three grand.

Speaker 5 (02:13:19):
With a bad engine? I belt you're going to get
that not even yeah, not even no.

Speaker 6 (02:13:24):
But you couldn't sell it because its got Alan, so
it doesn't matter.

Speaker 4 (02:13:26):
And you owe on it right now, how much do
you know?

Speaker 10 (02:13:29):
Probably about seventy five hundred I'm making a guest, but
probably about seventy.

Speaker 5 (02:13:32):
Five hundred use car Alan. That interest rate's going to
be up there.

Speaker 4 (02:13:37):
Man, this is a terrible situation.

Speaker 10 (02:13:39):
I think it was seven something, I guess. I think
that's my question. We did take it to fill Long
just because they were the closest.

Speaker 4 (02:13:48):
Yeah, the worst thing in the world is to go
to a dealer with something like this.

Speaker 16 (02:13:51):
Anyway, what did the dealer say, the fourteen thousand?

Speaker 4 (02:13:57):
At that point we went, yeah, well wait the dealer
said it was fourteen to fix.

Speaker 6 (02:14:01):
It, to get a new motor. They wouldn't put one in.

Speaker 4 (02:14:04):
Yeah, they won't put a used one. That's a brand
new one.

Speaker 10 (02:14:06):
Yeah yeah, yeah, right, so that's you know, that's where
we went, Okay, hold on.

Speaker 4 (02:14:12):
Hold on, hold on? Did they say, you know, sometimes
and this may not this is very I will never
usually recommend this. Hold On, I got an idea coming up.