#344 The Great Car Market Reset: Are Dealers Finally Negotiating Again?

Speaker A: Foreign.

Speaker B: Welcome back, Rancher Nation, you mechanical maniacs. I see you driving on i10, you big jalopy. That horn is hanging out, but your AC is working. It's working, maybe. Always an honor spending with you right here from the East Valley Institute of Technology. Let's hit it, baby. 887 the pulse right here, wrench Nation. We got a jam packed show coming your way. Wrench Nation, baby. Live radio is what we like. Right here from East Valley. How many of you living your best lives live, no fakery, hashtag fake news. Somebody went on a job interview, you interviewed, and you were preparing, you're getting ready, you're in the mirror, you got your eyebrows looking good, and all of a sudden you meet the individual that's going to interview you. And everything changed. Like you were on pins and needles. You didn't know what to do. And all of a sudden you became something that maybe you. You weren't. How many, how many of you have experienced that? I have. I still do. And what this is is nerves, a ball of nerves. And so when we're doing live radio, sometimes we get a little ball of nerves. I have an exciting show, Wrench Nation. Uh, TV, of course. You can get on the website, podcast, iHeart, Spotify. Uh, today's show is gonna be jammed. I'm gonna cram it in. I'm asking you how many you get on a TikTok, you big, big influencer. I don't know if I like that word, influencer. Aiden, get on there. You think influencers like the, like you just added a couple zeros to your paycheck and hey, I'm an. You go to the bar. I'm an influencer. Yeah, I mean, is that a thing still influencer?

Speaker C: You know, I think there's a little bit more entitlement around the word.

Speaker B: I got some big daddy creatives in. We're going to get you introduced. But I want to know, is that influencer influencing you? Is that like, gone today? Get up on the mic. Come on, let's do this.

Speaker D: Uh, no, I, I wouldn't say it's influencing me. I try to be the influencer of the influencers.

Speaker B: I like that. We're going to talk about that. Uh, I've got some very, very special guests. Uh, I like that some of you are not into that. Um, some of you just watch the latest hashtag, let's get it up there. But I think in life we talked about, like that interview, that cold the mirror. I practice, I got bam boom, got nervous and I didn't get the gig. I didn't get the job. Um, my car broke down. I went to the mechanic. They didn't fix it right. That's kind of like the same feeling. Maybe. Susie Sockets is in studio.

Speaker E: How are you?

Speaker B: Singing Panda? Uh, singing Panda. Uh, by the way, happy birthday to you, Maniac.

Speaker E: Thank you.

Speaker B: I love you.

Speaker E: 62.

Speaker B: Frank, you 62?

Speaker E: It's not just my IQ anymore, it's my age.

Speaker B: Look at you go. And, and we're gonna, we're gonna tie in some stuff, man, because I. One thing about this show, and you guys have been with us for many, many years, and we've heard you, uh, you get in the comments section, Orange Nation TV, or the little YouTube channel that we got. Uh, this is your show, it's your vibe. And Susie, we always talk about, like, the way life kind of navigates itself. And you, like, yesterday you were in Tahiti. A week before you in Libya, uh, you and I sat down in Egypt talking Tunisian politics. You get around, girl.

Speaker E: I do. But you know what? Like you always say, just trust the journey.

Speaker B: Yeah. You got to do that, man. I think what happens is sometimes I tell my kids that I don't know if it registers. Uh, sometimes as parents, you know, we tell our kids, we give them advice before they fail. We know they're gonna fail, but we give them advice and we just try to. We try to tell them, hey, fail fast, it's okay.

Speaker E: But we give that advice over and over.

Speaker B: Yeah, but you gotta. You gotta let them fail.

Speaker E: That's true.

Speaker B: Aidan Moore's in the studio. Former UH student, alumni, rock star. What are you doing, Aiden?

Speaker C: Hey. I'm just. I'm sitting here working, doing what I got to do.

Speaker B: Don't give me that. That's boring. Tell me what's happen. Don't do that. What is happening, truthfully, in your life? How's your car?

Speaker C: You know, the car is doing fine there, a little bit here and there. I still got the. Still got the Christmas tree lights for sure.

Speaker B: You don't. What?

Speaker C: Christmas tree lights? Yeah.

Speaker B: Really, you need to get. You need a good mechanic. Susie, he's got Christmas tree lights on. You know, some people like that. Like, we got other problems. I got, like, I got sores on my feet. I don't care about that chick. Engine light maybe.

Speaker E: So you're gonna take the source on the fee?

Speaker B: Well, you have a check engine light, you text me.

Speaker E: I do.

Speaker B: Hey, Frank. And get my car.

Speaker E: It's an evap, Frank.

Speaker B: Yeah. So I just want to remind you, uh, whether you're in Miami, North Dakota. Canada. Canada. See ya. Uh, by the way, the, the, the financial exchange, what is the monetary of the situations, the goings ons in Canada? So you have the American dollar, you have the Canadian loony. I love that. Have you guys heard of the loony? What you guys will be filming in Canada and they'll, uh, get paid in looney. That's their financial thing. Yeah, that's the deal. So anyway, Wrench Nation TV is what I was aiming for. If you need a good mechanic, uh, you can reach out to me there or get on our Facebook, whatever's your. I think I'm on Twitter X whatever they call it now, and, uh, Facebook. But you can reach out to me personally at the garage. Desert Car Care Cave Creek. I'll give you a tour of the garage and I'm not going to leave you naked and alone. Some mechanic told you needed something. And uh, not to knock that mechanic, but, uh, we've got great community minded shops across the country. Speaking of which, community minded, educational, full of value. We made a decision. I met with the board of Wrench Nation, Susie. We all got together over some Susie Mai tai's and singing Panda.

Speaker E: How many. What did that look like, Frank? How many people were there? You and you?

Speaker B: I raised like five hands. Um, we had a couple little drinks and we decided that he's a couple.

Speaker C: If you got five of your own

Speaker B: hands, we just make it happen.

Speaker E: That's right.

Speaker B: We roll the dice. Okay, that's not a seven, but it's a six. That's good enough. Uh, we decided sincerely, and I mean this. I thought you guys got a lot of value. I got, I got good feedback. Ray Shefska has been in the automotive industry for over 35, 40 years. He's an authority. Car edge, people. Don't do this while you're driving, please. Car edge on YouTube. Ray's coming back. Ray's coming back.

Speaker E: Raise. Back.

Speaker B: Raise. Uh, Mr. Board Operator, can we get a song for Ray? Ray coming back. Ray. We'll figure something out.

Speaker E: You can call me Ray.

Speaker B: We have film producers in studio. We figure that out. Some creative on that. But Ray Shepska is going to join us. Why is that? Well, there's a couple things going on. One, I think I'm going to speak on this. Um, this is crazy. Do you remember when toilet paper during COVID they said, oh yeah, you can run out of everybody. Like my wife, she took my whole. Half my bedroom was toilet paper. Honey, it's not gonna run out. Well, guess what's Happening. I got an email from my oil vendor. We may run out of engine oil by July.

Speaker E: That's just crazy.

Speaker B: We may run out of engine oil by July. Full synthetic oil. Further went on to tell me, Qatar, where the additive packs come in for the full synthetic oil that's been exploded and bombed. South Korea. I'm still trying to figure this out, but South Korea is hoarding the oil. We actually get that. The additive packs. I'm confused, honestly. But something tells me, is this a retail ploy? I'm actually going to break it down even more. Uh, Channel three this Sunday, seven, uh, o', clock, the morning show. I'm investigating as we speak, but I've got Ray Shepska in the green room. He's hanging out with us. I'm hoping maybe he's got the straight and skinny on it, but at least he'll have an idea of what is a crazy used car. New car market. It's expensive. How do we. How do we navigate this? Which brands are actually discounting? Is Kia giving deals? Is Hyundai? Is Mercedes put your pinkies up? Is Mercedes doing anything? Are incentive incentives legitimate, or are they just blowing smoke? What's the story with that? So Ray Sheep's was hanging. He's going to join us here after our first break. But I do want to give the floor. I'm honored. Susie, I need you help me. Help me announce you did a film project and you said, hey, Frank, I got these rock stars, they flew in from Dubai. Just kidding. Um, let's introduce these gentlemen. Uh, these are young talents, uh, behind film producing. And I want to share this with the audience, those content creators, because, you know, Wrench, in Asia, we cover it all.

Speaker E: Yeah.

Speaker B: Who do we have in studio?

Speaker E: So we actually have. Well, I know him as ap. Ap, but he really does have a name, don't you? Anthony Tyrone Phelps.

Speaker D: Yes. That's. That's my government name. I go by a government name. Yeah, I'm a junior, so I just shortened it to AP so they don't confuse me with father.

Speaker E: There you go. Now. Now, AP is the writer.

Speaker F: Yes.

Speaker E: Of the script.

Speaker B: AP handles writing. And you're producing films as independence. And we're gonna.

Speaker E: We're gonna.

Speaker B: We're gonna get a little more backstory. The other.

Speaker E: We also have Kenny Lee.

Speaker B: Kenny Lee, get on the mic, Big daddy Kenny. Look at these guys are smiling. You see, you don't. This ain't film, man. It's live radio.

Speaker E: That's right.

Speaker A: A little different.

Speaker E: There's no action. There's no.

Speaker B: But we keep it loose. And the thing is, we got a lot of folks right now that want to kick it up notches. Like, they're. They, they understand the camera work. Like, they, they got their little dslr, whatever is the flavor of the day, or even in their Apple phone, they're doing the YouTube. And a lot of youngsters want to take it, like, kick it up notches. So we're gonna dive into the creative aspect. You know, we got maybe 15 minutes or so before Ray comes on. First off, what got you started was mom banging stuff in the kitchen. And you were acting to that. Like, how do you get started as an independent?

Speaker A: You know, really? I actually started photography first before I started doing videoing.

Speaker B: Nice.

Speaker A: Because, you know, when I was growing up, my parents would take photos and I would look through the photo book and it's like, oh, man, these, these moments are priceless.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And then, uh, that kind of just escalated, like, huh, this is something I might want to get into. So I started doing more photography and then now here in Arizona just made me may, uh, want to do more film.

Speaker B: I love it. Is Arizona hip? Like, a lot of people think they have to go to Hollywood, but is Arizona good stomping grounds to, like, mess around with it and certainly chime in if you'd like as well? Um, yeah, definitely.

Speaker A: Arizona has a huge market. Man, I see so much talent here. Uh, a lot of mentors and a lot of people trying to get into this industry. And I know everyone talks about Hollywood and stuff like that, but a lot of those people are actually coming here. And if you are, uh, know about a couple of years ago, they've, uh, did a, uh, agreement to do like a billion dollar deal to do film here.

Speaker B: You said billion?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: Here in a couple of years ago, it's big money. Arizona.

Speaker B: Wow. So, um, passionate photography. You kind of like the idea of set in time, I think. I think the whole thing about filming is like, you're taking that moment scripted, written. Let's get our writer, get the writer on that show. Writing, man. Like, you had to go to college for that. Like, what's up with writing for films?

Speaker D: Uh, so writing for films is funny because I was, I went to school for healthcare administration, so I'm way out of what I actually studied for. But even doing those essays.

Speaker B: But that's a backup plan.

Speaker D: That's the backup plan, right?

Speaker B: We need backups.

Speaker D: Uh, originally, uh, I sold it to my parents as the first plan, but I knew I was going to do something different. Um, so, uh, writing really is Just about. No, I heard this. This saying, correct me if I'm wrong, it's older than me. Uh, three things a man should do before he dies. Plant a tree, have a child, write a book.

Speaker B: So that's plant a tree. Yeah, I mean, have a child. All of us try to have children.

Speaker E: Yeah. You've got the two checked off.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker E: Now you gotta write a book.

Speaker D: I already wrote a book. Um, so that's. That's actually why I started. I didn't.

Speaker B: I didn't plant a tree. I planted tomatoes. I burnt.

Speaker E: Well, that's the same thing.

Speaker B: But I like that because it's like, centering the whole spirit of, um, what I guess life would be about.

Speaker D: That's the spirit. I mean, so, like, just the way that, uh, Kenny's able to immortalize things with photography my way. I can't take pictures very well. I can't draw. So the only way I can get my story across and immortalize it is through writing it. Um, and I know AI and everything else, they can generate those things, but authentic storytelling has to come from a lived experience. So that's why, you know, there might be a lot more scripts, a lot more books coming out. It's a lot of noise. I still think I'm confident that the true stories will shine above the noise.

Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. Um, so now we got the story, we're setting up cameras. How do you deal with talent? Like, you know, for independent films, you're not really dancing with a bunch of A listers. Yeah, we know this. That's fine. All respect to the B's, C's and D's. And us, maybe, whatever.

Speaker E: No, you're an A list.

Speaker B: Like, to translate what's from writing to the creative behind the eye, what that shot's going to look like. What's the challenge with talent at that level?

Speaker D: Uh, I'll take this and I'll, uh, pass you. Kenny.

Speaker B: Um, you're just. Officially, you're the. You're the.

Speaker D: I'm the director as well.

Speaker B: Very good.

Speaker D: Yeah, I'm the director. And then Kenny's the director of photography. So we're working hand in hand because he's also doing some fight choreography as well, um, and stunt work. But, uh, uh, when it comes to casting, especially here in Arizona, there's a lot of people that do truly have talent. It's really, I think, all about channeling what's inside of you. Because as we were talking about, if you're. If you're going for a job interview, you're not acting like you the same way you act when you with your parents and you go on the first date, you're acting different there too. So being able to channel those emotions, that's what I look for. So some people might already have a certain flaw that a character I have written has. And that's actually the best thing to have because now, uh, you can, we can actually cast you and you're already doing it because that's naturally right.

Speaker B: And it's the way like some of the big multi million dollar contracts come from. Like we can think of, uh, what was that? New York City. The butcher actor. Um. Damn it, I need to say this. Um, was it Streets of New York? Remember?

Speaker E: I don't know.

Speaker B: It was old Daniel Day Lewis.

Speaker A: Gangs.

Speaker B: Thank you. Gangster New York. You get old stuff mixes up. Uh, Daniel Day Lewis, that is an actor. And my understanding is he kind of walked away, you know, almost like Perry, uh, from Journey on top of his deal. But when you get somebody that talented, they could be somebody totally opposite of the role. Um, I find that man, I find that fascinating because it's disciplined and then there's the study of the methods and things like that. But with younger talent that you may have, or even talent like you may be casting for a dj, and that DJ is a dj, he's making it happen. Um, it makes it a little easier. Do, uh, you find that people, when they get in front of a camera, we know that there's some nerves. How does an actor or actress deal with the nerves? You know, room full of people. There's going to be 18 takes for a 5 second whatever. What do you tell them?

Speaker A: You know what? Uh, I think just doing a film that we just recently kind of did, um, one issue I saw was getting the nerves. Let them actually taking action, like just take a couple takes and then they got their nerves and they got the flow going in, like choreograph and stuff like that. And then that kind of got the nerve, uh, out of them and they were able to go ahead and so

Speaker B: the rehearsal aspect, walking through lines. Yeah, right, right. Susie, this was at your restaurant. Singing Panda. Chandler. Give a location address, please.

Speaker E: 757 E. Chandler Blvd. In Chandler.

Speaker B: How did you meet these great gentlemen, these talents?

Speaker E: I met Kenny Lee two years ago. Kenny Lee walked into the restaurant, offered to take some photos that I could keep. And, uh, we've been friends ever since. And uh, it's funny because the M name of the movie is Singing Pandas.

Speaker B: All right, let's give some pertinence. There's gonna, there's a lot of replays for this show on the podcast. Where can folks find you, support you, or across the gamut? Maybe they're a young talent, they want to audition for you. What's the home base for, uh, what you're doing?

Speaker D: Oh, right now the home base is on Instagram and, uh, TikTok it is, uh, NBL Productions. Um, everything is spelled NBL Productions but

Speaker B: with a Z and is in November and November.

Speaker D: November.

Speaker B: Bravo, Larry.

Speaker D: Yes, it stands for nothing but laughs. That's the acronym.

Speaker C: There you go.

Speaker B: I thought I saw an email. You guys said email, nothing but. Yeah, I like that.

Speaker F: Yeah.

Speaker B: So, man, if we can't laugh, we're messing.

Speaker E: That's right. Well, here's, here's another funny thing is that after meeting ap, um, he decided to, I guess rewrite a little bit of the script and include me in the movie.

Speaker D: Of course.

Speaker B: Susie, what character can you not play?

Speaker E: Well, I don't know. I'm Lily. Ms. Lily in the, in the movie.

Speaker B: Nice. And so now let's just real quick. Is going to bring Ray Chefs because we got to take a quick break. We got about two minutes. Um, the thing is this, uh, so we bundled it, we got the talent. It was written well executed, post production went well. How do you market? Like, is it favorable on Amazon? What's the outlet for young independents to get their film out in front of people?

Speaker D: Uh, so I'll take this and I'm have Kenny back me up. Um, so right now there's a lot of things happening on those, uh, like the YouTubes. And there's places where most people are spending most of their time on. A lot of the streaming networks are actually saying that YouTube is competing with them more than their, their competitors. People sit down and watch YouTube more than sit down and watch HBO. So YouTube is a big place for independence right now. Uh, and then obviously to be.

Speaker B: All right, so I'm gonna send people your way. So we said M N, Nancy, Bravo, Larry. NBL Productions with a Z. Zebra. People that get them on Instagram. Nothing but laughs. S is a Z. Nothing but laughs. I'm gonna have it in show notes. But, uh, YouTube channel.

Speaker D: Yes, same in the same thing.

Speaker B: All right, there you go.

Speaker E: So can I bring something up real quick? And I know we gotta. I know we gotta go.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker E: So we. I met a gentleman Monday. Name. Is it Rock?

Speaker D: Yeah. Iraq.

Speaker E: Yes, Iraq. So apparently this gentleman is the one that mentors all of them. He's got a movie studio.

Speaker D: Yeah, he's the Emmy. Emmy nominated director. I'm gonna Talk because he's too humble. But yeah, he has a, um, um, um, kind of establishment in downtown Phoenix where he gets emerging filmmakers up. It's called Glow Frame Initiative. Um, they're doing some great work. I actually wrote a show over there called Facade. Um, so Iron Daniels, he has a, he has a show number one, I think radio show on BET is called Churchy. He's the director for that. So, uh, shout out to Iron Daniels.

Speaker B: We're gonna give you a full hour. Okay, so. No, I'm serious. I want you to bring people because we have a lot of younger, uh, folks retraining adults that always, they fascinated their plumbers. They want to try to do the movie thing. I want to open this up more, give you more respectful time. So we're going to make that happen. And yeah, Ranch Nation, we'll find a wrench or something in this situation. All right, we're going to take a quick break. I got Ray Shepska. While we're taking a break, check out Car Edge. I highly recommend. Man, they do a live jam packed, full education. They're not just burning your ears every day. They do a live car market video, really used cars, new cars, finance, you name it. Ray Shepska is going to join us. Hang tight, Wrench Nation. Mailshark is a platform offering marketing services including direct mail, customizable email templates and automation tools. Subscription options are available on a monthly, weekly or one time basis. Details can be found@mailshark.com Parts Authority is a supplier of automotive parts serving both professional mechanics and automotive enthusiasts. In addition to providing automotive components, Parts Authority supports community engagement through sponsorship of local events and involvement in automotive training and education programs. They work with manufacturers such as Acdelco, Motorcraft, Denso and Bosch and operate locations across the country. More information is available@partsauthority.com Pronto National association supports the automotive industry through programs focused on education, collaboration and resource sharing among auto parts suppliers and professionals. Members have access to training, industry updates and networking opportunities. Learn more@pronto net.com yeah, that was the quickest break in history. But that's the way it goes with live radio. And guess what? You love it. And we love it. I mentioned earlier this show we're going to break down. We're going to spend some time with you. Uh, we are paying attention. Uh, Ray Cheska Shefska with an sh. Uh, respected automotive, uh, industry veteran. He's been on with us, uh, before. He's going to be a regular with us. In fact, I'll just tell you, uh, once a month, it'd be the last Wednesday. And he's co founder of Car Edge alongside his brilliant son Zach. And they've become, uh, well, God, the leading voices there on the Internet for all things automotive regarding the new car experience. A lot of you struggling. You want to buy, you got a bonus. Not sure. Uh, we're going to cover the topic of what brands are playing ball today, like now with consumers. So let's get Ray. Ray Ray in. Ray, are you hanging?

Speaker F: Blake, how the hell are you tonight? Susie?

Speaker B: Uh, Susie.

Speaker F: Doing well, yo.

Speaker E: Heck yeah.

Speaker B: Look at you, baby. Mr. Shepska, good to hang with you, man. How are you?

Speaker F: I am doing wonderfully well. Celebrated my 75th birthday on Monday.

Speaker B: Oh, hey, May 25th, man. Whoa, you got. Is that your birthday?

Speaker E: We're the same birthday.

Speaker B: Look at you. What's your. What's your sign?

Speaker E: I'm a Gemini, Ray.

Speaker B: Big Gemini, Big Daddy or Gemini.

Speaker E: You know who else's birthday is May 25th? Pep Williams.

Speaker B: Wow. This is.

Speaker F: And m. I gotta. I gotta tell you, you turn 75 and I. And I zoned out. I forgot. Oh, my God. I got Wrench Nation to do tonight.

Speaker D: Oh, no.

Speaker F: Watching some YouTube videos when I should have been calling into the show.

Speaker B: It's all good. So respect with you. Uh, what you and, uh, ah, Zach are doing. I really admire that. And I just want to continue growing, uh, really the valuable content. Because I think the consumer right now, they may be getting stuff on social media. I would just say like, you know, a lot of that Fast track TikTok and maybe quick reels. You wonder if there's like, okay, paid influencers. They're paid to tell you that. Paid you guys really research and I want to recap. Tell us what Car Edge is and what makes it a valuable tool for the automotive consumer.

Speaker F: Well, Car Edge is basically a consumer advocacy organization that was developed and designed to help people navigate the car buying experience. I spent 43 years managing dealerships and things of that nature. And, well, we thought that perhaps I could share some insights with people to make it a little easier for them to understand what they're about to go through, uh, when it comes time to buy a car. And God bless my son, he didn't really think I should be retired. He thought if I was there to help him when it was time for him to buy a car, I should be there to help everybody.

Speaker B: Yeah, that's it. All right. Like anything else, supply and demand is a big deal. Um, supply, demand, demand, supply. You know, that is most folks basic economics 101. I'm looking for a particular vehicle. Like I'm just saying, I drove my 91 BMW M M5.

Speaker E: It's beautiful. I saw it.

Speaker B: I don't drive that a lot, but that's a rare supply. I think they only made 1200. That's going to affect the price. Let's get into it, folks. May be looking right now. Can you discuss a little bit about what, what this inventory pressure that these dealers are facing as we speak? What does that all mean for the consumer? Inventory pressures?

Speaker F: Well, inventory is the key to pricing. If you are a Toyota or a Lexus dealer, you have nationally the lowest day supply of cars in inventory. So what does that mean? It means based on the current daily sales rate, for instance, most Toyota dealerships would sell out of their inventory within 38 days. Based on the current daily sales rate. Then you go to the other end of the spectrum and you could look at say a Ram dealer that they might have 120 days supply of cars. So if, if you're a consumer and you want a Toyota and the reality is that most of the Toyotas are pre sold, as a consumer you don't have a lot of leverage. The dealer has the leverage because there's great, great demand and limited supply. If you need a Ram 1500 pickup truck, uh, the Ram dealer very likely might be um, overstock, the leverage swung to your side as the customer. Now because there's not as much demand, there's an oversupply. So it really is economics 101. And as a customer you need to decide if you're looking at a Toyota or a Honda or a Lexus. Is there a comparable brand I could accept that might have, uh, where I might have a little more leverage when it comes to trying to get a better deal.

Speaker B: So not only like we're all like, like studying color, you know, we may have rented the car that we want to buy. We never look at how long in stock. I mean, no, that's almost like buying a home. Like we do know about, like I think most consumers know. Well, that home's been on the market for a long time. Something's wrong with it. Like we never think when we buy a car to say, hey, okay, how long has that been sitting? You're saying that's a tool. Uh, you have that on car edge?

Speaker F: Yes. Yeah, we have for our car search. When you search cars and finds the cars that you're looking for, it will also let you know how many days that car has been advertised, uh, by that dealership and it'll show how long that vehicle has been on the lot. We base it being on the lot when they first started advertising the vehicle. So if you see something that's been on the lot 150 days, there would be a little more leverage for you as a buyer on that car than if you look at the same exact car that's been on the dealer's lot for 20 days.

Speaker E: But what would be a reason for a car to sit 150?

Speaker B: I mean that's a good question. We uh, could speculate. But Ray, why would, why would a Dodge Ram sit for 120? I mean right now gas prices through the roof. I get that. But, but why would. I mean, what cars. How about this, Ray? What cars, notoriously, if I can use that word, kind of sit on a lot? What, what cars, notoriously have a, have a long term. Let's say they're, they're not hanging with Toyota, Lexus. Those cars are moving. Um, they have a tendency to sit 60 to 90 days.

Speaker F: Yes.

Speaker B: Which, uh, yeah.

Speaker F: So what brands, what, what brands have um, have the manufacturers pretty much stuck their dealers with? Um, where the manufacturers have begged their dealers to take more inventory than they need. And that would be most of your Stellantis brands. Dodge, Chrysler, uh, Jeep and Ram. Uh, and that's been going on for years now, uh, where they have just kind of force fed inventory to their dealers until their dealers finally started saying no mas, we're not going to take any more. We can't take any more. Um, so there's most of your mass market brands tend to, tend to uh, inventory up their dealerships because they're looking to sell high volumes quickly. Chevrolet, typically a lot of inventory, but they turn it relatively quickly because they're, they're more of a mass market brand, in many cases lower price points. But today it's hard to find lower price points anywhere.

Speaker B: It is, in fact it's uh, I, there's got to be a reset. I mean you hear about certain manufacturers coming out with like a 32 to 35,000 every, every people's type car. Like the market's a mess, man. And then what's up with Ferrari, Ray? They announced that electric Ferrari. Are they having a Jaguar moment? I watch. I'm in therapy right now. What are they doing? Ferrari electric. Electric. Uh, 600,000. And listen, put your pinkies up. This is Italy. What? I thought it was loose, but no, it's called the Luche. Is that right, Greg? I think yes Right.

Speaker F: That's $600,000.

Speaker B: What the hell? Gosh, I mean, yeah, all right, if you got the ducats to put in the buckets, six, uh, hundred K may not be a thing, but when you, I'm sorry. You look at it, it's, it's not nice. I'm sorry. I don't like it. I wish I could get more technical.

Speaker C: At least they're not doing.

Speaker B: Aiden, you had, you look, you, you got a million dollar bonus last month. They got the electric Ferrari. Get on the screen. Find that Ferrari. I'm telling you. Throw up in your mouth. Ray, this is a, I don't know what they're thinking, but they had, listen, they had some of the old school gangsters from Italy from Ferrari, uh, like the, the, like the corporate originals. They look like they're about to cry. I saw some of the press releases. I tried to weed out the AI. Ray, what are we doing with electric vehicles, man?

Speaker F: Um, you know, they're, they're there. I guess there's a market for the half a dozen or so of those for. They're going to build. I mean obviously they're not going to build a lot of, uh, they don't build a lot of any of their vehicles.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker F: Is the future really easy? I don't know. Are, will EVs be a part of the future? I think they'll be a small part of the future. And, and so everybody's trying to get their hands dirty a little bit when it comes to EVs, but yeah, it just doesn't seem right that a Ferrari should be an ev.

Speaker B: I've got to just give you firsthand experience. Uh, my oldest daughter, not so much. She's uh, do it like, do it for me. My youngest is a Do it yourself, but she's a gearhead and she's like, hey Dad, I found this C6. She actually influenced the buy on that M5. We were at the Mecha Box and she's, she screamed. I said, honey, you okay? I thought my kid was having a hard time.

Speaker E: You got it?

Speaker B: Yeah, I'm a sucker, you know, Daddy's girl. I said, okay honey, uh, we'll buy it bidding and we got it. I mean, I'm being silly, but what I'm saying Ray, is there's a movement of youngsters that generation, uh, that are showing up to these car shows. And I will say, not that I'm looking for it, I don't drive that car a lot, Ray, but I get, I get a lot of people saying, hey, that's cool car. And they're not my age group. They're, they're younger folks. And I don't know, I don't know about this electric scene. Um, I just, I think Ferrari from a brand perspective. Well, let's back up because, you know, you told me something raid last time you were on it really stuck with me and it was amazing. You said the manufacturers are. Mark. They're making cars for the 15% of the market economy. You said.

Speaker F: Certainly seems that way.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker B: And I'd have to agree. Like my daughter can't afford to buy a new car. My oldest who's a schoolteacher, I'm in the business. So we got our nice used car and you know, we work on it. But there's a lot of young folk that like, maybe I think Aiden didn't have the opportunity. Like, and I could beat it to a dead horse and say, why Aiden work 100 hour a week. You can do that payment like you're lazy. That's kind of not the case. Stuff's expensive. Aiden.

Speaker C: Yeah. And I will say this. I know what we're going to be doing with EV cars, especially the EV Ferrari. Crying. Lots of it.

Speaker B: I don't know, it's just a design. I mean a lot of uh, they've got a lot of feedback and look, uh, you know, the PR on it. I don't know.

Speaker C: I, I mean the Pope seemed to like it. They put the Pope in that.

Speaker B: Hey Ray, did you see that? The Pope, the Pope. They. I'm like, who is their PR people. They had the Pope check out the new 600K. Pinkies up. Uh, Ev Ferrari. I mean, hello.

Speaker F: Uh, you know, that just, just doesn't sound like something a Chicago guy would do.

Speaker B: Anyway, uh, we're all, we're, we're all for like you said, a balanced to ev. I think hybrids the way to go. Uh, has there been an uptick, uh, in sales with hybrids, I.e. toyota, uh, uh, maybe some of the Hondas or people gravitating to hybrids.

Speaker F: Yes. You know, um, hybrid is the fastest growing segment of new car sales. Um, and pre owned car sales. I mean people are clamoring for hybrids. Uh, I often thought four or five years ago when everybody thought there was going to be this giant EV revolution that I thought we needed a bridge to get there. And I thought the bridge would be hybrid vehicles. And Toyota, uh, who was really relatively late to the EV party because they perfected hybrids and hybrids are still their best selling vehicles. And I think they recognized the situation better than any other manufacturer that you can't expect to take people from, from ice and diesel vehicles right directly to EVs, that there has to be an intermediate step, and that step is hybrids. And it seems to be working.

Speaker B: Yeah, I'm a fan mechanically, of all things toy to hybrid. Uh, when someone asks me, you know, assuming that that's the lifestyle they. They're after, uh, the toy, the Toyota Highlander, all things Toyota, hybrid, Lexus, a little bit more luxury. Um, it's just, they've got the science. Generation after generation. I want to switch the gears. I told Aiden he got a big bonus at work. He didn't get seven figures, but maybe he got little three figures, four figures. When should he buy? Like people say wait to the end of the month or wait till the season, like, you know, the holiday season. How do we time when to buy a vehicle?

Speaker F: You know, historically, the best time to buy a car, uh, is the last week of the year between Christmas and New Year's Eve. That historically is the best time. That's, that's when, um, the best deals are at least the, the largest percentage off, uh, the MSRP of a vehicle you can usually get. Now, having said that, I will tell you this. In my opinion, and I said this on the show today, I'll say it on the show again tomorrow. If you find a car today that you like that fits into your budget, my guess is that it'll be cheaper to buy it today than it will be next week. Because all the manufacturers talk about, well, we need to address affordability. And I can tell you that year over year, at this very moment, new car asking prices are up $1889 from where they were this time a year ago.

Speaker B: What do we blame? Who do we blame? Because, like, we're angry. Who do we blame?

Speaker F: Blame the magic part of its government because of all the mandated safety regulations and technologies that have to be in cars today. That's part of it. Um, but the other part of it is it's just greed on the manufacturer's part. They have realized that they can effectively sell enough cars to the 13 to 15% of the population that can buy them, um, at the higher prices, which means there's higher profits. So they can, they can manufacture fewer vehicles, sell fewer vehicles, make just as much or more than they had been before because what they're producing is the high profit margin vehicles.

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, there's. They're saying right now, with all due respect for me, I love all generations. But right now, the boomers are retired. They got money, they're spending, they're holding the economy up, and they may be causing that demand on their side of things. I went to a seminar, Susie. Sema. I went to a class, Ray, two hours. Air fresheners. Number one seller right now. After they legalized the good stuff. Uh, I'm serious. Parts houses sell a lot of air fresheners. That's big money. It used to be the funnel. That was the profitable. You buy that funnel, you'd be like, you buy 100 funnels from China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Libya, wherever, and you. It'd be like 5 cents. And they say, give me that $4 funnel. It has a lot of market now. It's air fresheners. But my point is, the Boomer segment, I had to put my goggles on and read that slide that they were presenting. And so again, I go back to what you originally stated, and I don't have a cure other than I tell my kids, save your money, don't get fancy. I think a reset's coming.

Speaker C: Susie doesn't believe that.

Speaker B: Listen, we all had it as generations, I think may, maybe. I remember my first home. It was assumable. We couldn't. We couldn't afford crackers and cheese, half a Christmas tree donuts, uh, with no holes in it. I mean, we just could. But my wife and I, we still had a good time, but the fact is we had to. We paid 9% for a sumable loan. You can't find assumables. I think they kind of should come back. A lot of people want to unload. I don't know. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not in that category, uh, of intelligentsia. But, but my point is something's got to give because I feel for some of these folks. They're grinding, man. And we no longer, like I used to tell my kids, I, uh, work harder, work longer.

Speaker C: I did it.

Speaker B: I shoveled Snow. I walked 15 miles to get a donut, whatever. Like, Ray, these people, these youngsters don't want to hear it. They're working hard, and it's just not affordable. There's got to be a reset. I mean, we threw money at the economy. Well, we got to go back to 2008, right when everything collapsed. It's really been a long winded deal. And of course, Covid was a smack, uh, and we put money, trillions of dollars. And I was like, man, we're gonna have to pay for this in the future. And so now these interest rates are stuck. Ray, there's not going to be a reset. Should we just all move In. Should we just, should we just find our own version of Gilligan's Island? Go hide.

Speaker F: I think, I think we have to figure out how they do it in Cuba and that's how we're going to be doing it here. Um, you know, the sad reality is that if there's 13 to 15% of the population that can really participate and the rest of us feel as if we can't, but that 13 to 15% produces enough profit for these manufacturers to thrive, then there really doesn't have to be a reset. What it indicates to me is that you and I and the rest of us who don't feel as if we can, we can be part of this, um, we're going to learn more and more about rideshare and Robo taxis and Waymo and whatever else, but people. Only a small percentage of people will actually own vehicles 20, 30 years from now. The rest of us will just be using subscription services or ride share services of some kind. We don't have to be the owner. Giant corporations will own the vehicles and we'll just pay for them as we use them.

Speaker B: Yeah, you remember Susie, we had. That's such a good point because we had. We kind of dove into this territory, Ray, of like how. I mean, I'm a mechanic. I need to fix the cars. Don't do this sooner than later. But how do we just ultimately get rid of the, uh, the cost associated to probably one of the most wasted items will ever buy now the most, uh, complex, uh, 80, 90, 100 million lines of code that we have to diagnose. Um, and so we went through this kind of like pre Covid. Susie. Uh, one of the guests we had was New York City traffic commissioner, uh, gridlock Sam Schwartz. He had a book. It said no one behind the wheel. He stated. We mentioned this often because it's shocking. You could be arrested for driving. My grandkids may laugh. Oh, Papa Frank, he used to drive

Speaker F: people used to own cars.

Speaker B: Could we be right there? Where now we see Waymo, we see Tesla saying there. I don't know. I mean, Elon is kind of mundane. P.T. barnum, but he's also comes with the game. I mean he's brilliant, but he's saying you own a Model 3, it's sleeping at night. Go and make that thing autonomous and make some money. Uh, we're onto something. I don't know. Maybe this is the last era. Why Susie, People need to. I don't know. It's just not a nice place to be, Ray. I guess, I mean, you could be right where this may be the downhill

Speaker F: it seems to me, and maybe it's because I'm 75 years old, but it's. I can't remember the chasm between those people who can afford things and those people who can't being any wider and deeper than it is today. We have truly become a nation of haves and have nots. And the sad reality is that most of, um, us are have nots. And, um, maybe the sooner we accept that, the better off we'll be. I don't know.

Speaker B: I can't. I just can't swallow that. I still maintain just. And just me. I don't know if you're listening. You can relate. You're examining the math that would suggest. Well, Ray. Ray's got a good point. But, man, I don't ever want to get up, like, give up. Like, uh, I just. That's not like the hustle grind. Uh, what's that? Nipsey Hussle? I was playing that song on the way over here. Grinding for the life. God bless Nipsey. Well, my point is, will you resign to what it is right now in the economy, or will you figure it out? In other words, life's always going to be a puzzle. Stuff don't fit, right. And what messes us up is time. I'm saying we don't resign. Aiden, you drive a Mazda. Someday you want to drive a Mercedes, maybe, or. What's your vision? Car. Come on, I.

Speaker C: You like, you know, I'm an old, um.

Speaker D: School.

Speaker C: Old school. 67 Chevy Impala, Chevy Chevel.

Speaker B: How do you get there? You going to resign?

Speaker C: You know, uh, no.

Speaker B: What do you do, Grind it. How many hours a week you work right now?

Speaker C: 40, but I.

Speaker B: What? 40?

Speaker C: Right now I do 40. But.

Speaker B: Susie, how many hours you work?

Speaker E: Too many.

Speaker C: Well, yeah. You guys own your own businesses. I don't.

Speaker B: Do you know what we just owned? We owned no sleep.

Speaker F: Yep.

Speaker E: Ah.

Speaker C: Hey, you know, you guys also walked uphill both ways to get to school.

Speaker E: What I'm saying, you have to act like you own it.

Speaker B: Listen, I walk backwards to school. What are you talking about? No, but Ray. Well, we're just having fun with this, but I don't want folks to just resign to it. But you are. I mean, you do make a point. It is frustrating. And I. I'll be honest with you. I get. I get a little teary eyed with my oldest daughter because she's so passionate about being a schoolteacher and school teachers don't make money as a small business. I Pay taxes. Left, right, middle, center, oh, here's another one. Here's more taxes. And we're not. And it's like, okay, can you throw in more money for school teachers? Give them more respect like they do in Japan or Asia? Like, I think, I think what you mentioned was the federal government is still twisted about sort of appropriating incentives where they need to belong. Without. Like, I'm not into the whole socialism thing, and I don't want to get political and all that, but as a country, we got to stand independent. As a human being, we cannot give up. We need to bleed. And some of us, some of us reflect Ray. And they say, well, Ray had it good. You don't know how Ray had it. Ray. Ray wasn't always sitting on top of the hill. Like, you had to bleed. You didn't give up for your kids.

Speaker F: Oh, my God. I, you know, I might say ass on the radio. I worked my ass off.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker F: Uh, you know, I, I used to say to my kids, it's just another half day today. I would leave it at 7:30 in the morning and I'd come home at 8:30, 9:00 clock at night. I was in the car business. It was 11, 12 hours a day, every day. That's what you. That was what was required. Um, and if I may, my wife, God bless her, rest her soul, she was a special ed teacher in Baltimore City, for goodness sake. And you know, I admire your daughter for being a teacher. And we in this country spend money or pay people. People make m. The wrong people make the most amount of money because most parents advocate their duties as parents and abdicate them to the teacher at school. And we expect the teacher to be the parent, but we don't want to pay them to be the parent and we don't want to pay them to teach. Uh, yeah. You know, how can you expect somebody to spend all that time with your children and tell them, well, yeah, you should. You should make $45,000 a year.

Speaker B: Yeah, there's no doubt. I mean, that's a good point. I got these young gentlemen. Ray, uh, and study. I want to give him some time here. You guys, look, let's. You're hearing this. Um, I'm not getting into. You guys. Are younger talents not upcoming. You're doing right now. You're growing that. What do you do when, you know, damn it. This particular scene, we need this. We can't afford whatever it is that we need. What are you doing to keep moving forward? Let's talk to the writer.

Speaker D: Um, Community, man, that's really the only solvent relationships. I mean, Susie's been pivotal in coming and helping us and she's like, whatever you need. So like we're on set on Monday. That's what it was. Everybody was picking up and just carrying the weight together instead of feeling so independent. That's my answer to that question.

Speaker B: You ever get your, uh, both you can get on. You get your, your family, Your family says, man, what do you, what do you like? Taking photos and camp. That's like part time. Instagram said, why are you doing this film stuff? What do you, how do you handle that?

Speaker A: You know, you actually have to block out the noise from, allow those kind of negative talking and kind of go for it.

Speaker B: Um, you think social media put pressure on young people because they see how quick everybody else is supposedly doing it and they're not comfortable being broke or in pain or learning or growing.

Speaker A: Yeah, like, I mean, social media, it's like a high set fomo. Uh, like you're kind of missing out.

Speaker B: It plays with us.

Speaker A: This plays with us all the time.

Speaker B: Yeah, no, I don't like that. I don't like that. Ray, you were growing up. Um, we have to both admit, I'm Xer. You're. You're a boomer. Uh, Susie's another. No, you're not. You're an ex. Are you a boomer? You think that youngsters have it harder than us because they have this whole social media. There's so much more that's in front of them that they lose the basics of the basics like show up instead of want to be, try to be. That's what they did.

Speaker F: I think young people today have been robbed of a lot of things. And what I mean by that is social media has robbed a lot of people of really learning how to interact with others.

Speaker B: Community.

Speaker F: Yeah, yeah. I mean, because I look at social media and I have said this for years, there's nothing social about social media. It is more antisocial than social. It has, it has given rise to keyboard warriors and people willing to say and do things behind the keyboard that in many cases they would never have the nerve to say to somebody's face. And so I think that robs a certain segment of our society of learning how to emotionally work with others. And I personally blame technology and social media for things like that. Yeah, that's just me.

Speaker B: No, no, I think all of us are nodding in here. And it's, it's, uh, regardless of generation, um, I mean, I don't think, I don't Think we'll solve this problem on our little show here. But if you're listening, um. And it's hard, man, because now the science says it's addictive. It's. It's a. In other words, that bell. That bell's red. I wanna. Who's somebody? Susie Contact. I gotta. I find myself, man. And I'm just saying it used to be Frank would wake up, go to the gym, go hike. Now I wake up, it's a coffee and I'm in my phone. It's currently a problem I have. And uh, you know, you think you're strong. I've done stuff. But then you, you get like you're in it. Like you're in a freaking hole. So here I am, somewhat disciplined. I'm fighting this. And a lot of people are fighting this right now. And the amount of time I did the math, like it m. Messes me up, Ray. I probably spend. What's my morning, half an hour, 40 minutes. Then I read a study that says that's the worst thing you can do. Your eyes coming from sleep cycle right into this. So look, um, I'm not complaining. We all have our problems and I'm trying to work on mine. And some of you listening right now, it'd be problem. I got a gamer. Come on, man. Yeah, how do you discipline? You love gaming and I think you're almost like professionally gaming.

Speaker C: Oh, no, not even.

Speaker B: Do you ever feel like I got to get out of this chair?

Speaker C: There's been plenty of times. But I can say this from experience, having grown up with. As soon as you get out of bed, you're downstairs watching cartoons. That kind of.

Speaker B: That's. That's how you kind of was.

Speaker C: That was how I grew up.

Speaker B: Yeah, basically, Ray, we, we grew up, uh, we grew up. We had like four TV channels. I mean, mtv. When that came around, I was like, yeah, baby. But we only had four channels. But we were kicked out. We had commercials. 10 o' clock at night. Do you know where your kids are? Remember that commercial do. Like we had to remind parents, hey, used to have kids, they're down the street shooting hoops in a milk, uh, carton. But now I don't. I'm just making comments. I'm not solving world problems. But Aiden, how did you get out of that.

Speaker F: That.

Speaker C: You know, the best part is when you're saying, oh, we had the commercials, like, where are your kids? We had the. We got kicked out of our, you know, Cartoon Networks, Nickelodeon. We just changed sales. We just.

Speaker B: Sorry. As Xers. I can Speak for my generation. Yeah, we kind of laugh at that. Oh, yeah, because we know how to get lost and get hurt and we're just being jovial. But I think the big point, Ray, we're making, of course, his little car talk show, but it's a little live show as well, is that, you know, whatever you're doing, uh, a don't give up because time will mess with you. The phone is messing with. It's messing with me. I think we need to be disciplined. Speaking of which, we got a few minutes, Ray, People want to know. I'm going to switch the gears here. Um, regarding the. We talked about inventory. We talked about some of the brands that may sit longer. I got an email from my major oil distributor. Yes, it was quite frankly threatening. Now I've been around and I thought, are they trying to sell more oil at higher margin or is this a genuine problem? He mentioned Qatar having an issue, their, Their facilities blown up. Um, I've got a few other good journalist friends in the automotive space. Most are saying this is another toilet paper. Like we're not gonna. What are you hearing about? Full synthetic oil could run out by July.

Speaker F: You know, I have seen articles in automotive news that there very well could be an issue and a shortage of synthetic oils. Um, you know, during COVID nobody wanted to believe that there was really a chip shortage that the automobile manufacturers had. Everybody thought that was a made up shortage. It wasn't. It was a real thing. Um, could this very well be a real thing? Listen, I, I wouldn't put anything past anybody when it comes to figuring out ways to make more money. Um, but it seems to me that, that.

Speaker B: Well, Ray, I'm scared. Look, I'm starting to store oil. I'm moving my kids out. I gotta put 55 gallon drums in my daughter's bedroom.

Speaker F: Well, what happens if we just go back to using real oil instead of synthetic oil?

Speaker B: Boy, that's a topic, Ray. We got to do a whole show on that, right? Because the consumer heard we used to be. Generally speaking, you got a really good service behind a 2990 oil change. And we did, we did well with that. And all of a sudden, wow, you need good, better or best. It was like I go to Susie's singing Panda and she got egg rolls and she says, well, we got good, better or best. We got egg rolls that have nothing. I'm being silly, but boy, this, I don't know, it sounds like a retail ploy, but I got to take it serious because I have a business to run. Uh, apparently what, what to let folks know a little bit, there's uh. And again I'm going to study this harder because I'm going to, I'm going to actually uh, get on a channel three this week and their CBS five and but we're going to break it all down in Qatar. Uh, Shells, Pearl GTL facility uh, was severely damaged during this recent uh, during this Action in the straights or Moose. And that's created some issues with refinement for those blends. Now the further I dive into this, what I'm finding is the newer vehicles. Gosh, can you believe it, Ray? Almost like mineral oil. 0 weight 8 and 0 weight 16. That's some thin. Let's not put oil in an engine. Anyway, um, but those blends which are the newer vehicles are the ones that are really impacted by shortages. However five, uh, weight 30 and some of the more common blends of course I'm speaking Arizona if you're in Alaska, you guys are going to mix it up a little bit because the temperatures and stuff but not so much. So I'm researching this um, because right now my oil prices went up 30%. Ray.

Speaker F: Oh, is that all you mean? You mean oil's not cheaper?

Speaker E: That sounds like my food cost.

Speaker B: Your food everything's got. You need to get a 8 more, 40 more hours of work for you Aiden.

Speaker C: That's fair.

Speaker B: How you afford this guy, Ray? Always, always an honor. I remind you listening plethora uh, of information we're honored to have Ray Shefska, uh, you please Visit Car Edge YouTube. They just had a video every single day that just uploaded two hours ago. The car market is spiraling, Ray. You do give the straight and skinny. We appreciate that so much. Thank you. And say hi uh, uh, to Zach please.

Speaker F: I promise I will. Thank you so much and I look forward to seeing you again the last Wednesday of June.

Speaker B: That's right, last Wednesday. Susie's bringing egg rolls.

Speaker E: That's right.

Speaker B: It's all good. Uh, thank you so much Ray. We'll be in touch. Bar partner.

Speaker F: Terrific. Thank you guys. Have a great evening.

Speaker B: Thank you gentlemen from the film industry in studio. We have like 10 seconds. Give us the social media. I want folks to support. You guys are doing amazing.

Speaker A: My social media will be uh, Ken, uh, optics and uh, Instagram.

Speaker D: Uh, my social media is nbl. Uh, N as in Nancy, B as in um, uh, Butler and L as in laughter and productions with a Z. NBL productions with a Z. Yeah, I'll

Speaker B: have that in show notes and uh, appreciate you guys. We're gonna do a longer format. I want to open this up. I feel like we need more time.

Speaker E: Yes.

Speaker B: Susie Singing fan. I love you, baby.

Speaker E: Yay.

Speaker B: Happy birthday. Happy birthday. All right, people, as I tell you every week, be safe, hug each other, and never forget to hug.

Speaker C: Huh?

Speaker B: A mechanic.