Frank Auto Advice

The new talk show has a name. A name that describes what I will be giving. Nuggets of information that you can use when you are thinking of buying or fixing a car. Bits of information that could save you some money. Part of the first show will be devoted to some of the ways dealerships will try to get a few extra dollars from you. Some of the things they sell that you can get in other places for less.
Tune in on Saturday afternoon between 2:00 and 3:00pm on KPHX 1480 AM Progressive Talk Radio. I am sure you will enjoy the show.

Four Square- tool of the new car salesman

The four square is a piece of paper that is broken in four parts. They are labeled payment, down payment, price and trade. By filling these blanks in, you are giving the salesman information about what you think you can afford. Never in this equation are the words number of payments or interest rate mentioned. The following was taken from "Confessions of a Car Salesman"

The next step in my training involved the use of the "4-square work sheet." Michael told me the 4-square was my friend, it was the salesman's tool for getting "maximum gross profit." As the name implies, the sheet is divided into four sections. When you have a prospect "in the box" (in the sales cubicle) you pull out a 4-square and go to work.

The information about the customer is written along the top together with the make, model and serial number of the car they want to buy. Then the salesman writes the sticker price of the car in large numbers in the upper right square on the worksheet. Michael stressed that the price of the car should be written in large clear numbers to give it a feeling of authority. He added that we should always write "+ fees" next to the price of the car (This includes license fees and sales tax.).

Another description of the four square can be found at The Consumerist

They never mention the term they are asking you to sign up for, the longer the term, the more money you will pay. The best way to approach the dealership is to be able to say I am approved for $15,000 or some amount, this is the car I want, can you sell it for that price? This involves going to your bank or credit union beforehand and getting approved for the loan. Most credit unions can also sell you a warranty, that will be just as good, but cost less than the one the dealer will try to sell you.

It's Showtime, Radio Talk Show Coming Soon!

We have been negotiating for several weeks and it's final. We will be hosting a talk show on KPHX radio 1480 on your AM dial. 2:00-3:00 pm on Saturdays. The first show is scheduled for April 5th. It will be fun and informative. I will be giving information on how to buy a car, what your car is worth, what to expect when you go into a dealership. Some information about bills that are in the Arizona House and Senate.

This is not going to be a repair oriented show. There are several of them and they do a good job. A car or truck is one of the biggest investments anyone makes outside of a home. The more information you have, the better decision you can make on what you are buying. I know that there are people being taken every day when they buy a car, if I can prevent that happening to one or two of them, my mission will be accomplished.

I will also be having guests from time to time. They will be sharing their knowledge with you also. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Remember KPHX 1480 AM 2:00-3:00 Saturday afternoons in Phoenix.

Progressive autox prize

I was reading about a $10 million prize to design a car that gets 100 MPG. This sounds pretty spectacular. When you realize that the Model T Ford averaged 25 MPG almost 100 years ago, what does that say about our current technology. I know that there are other ways to power cars. You can power any internal combustion engine with hydrogen. The byproduct is water vapor. The exhaust is actually cleaner than whey the air entered the combustion chamber. The only problem with this is the storage container for the hydrogen gas. This is very costly to design and build. The other problem is that there aren't very many places to buy a tank of hydrogen.

There are impressive developments in fuel cell vehicles, this takes the hydrogen, converts it to electricity, which in turn powers the vehicle. Mercedes Benz has some test vehicles that are already in use. These are really nice, but wouldn't it be nice to retrofit the millions of cars that are on the road, rather than having to build all new?

I really think it wil be a good idea to get these cars on the road and lessen the dependence on oil.

Buying a used lemon!

I was speaking with a friend yesterday evening. He related something that makes me very angry. A mutual acquaintance had been looking for a particular make and model car. This car was something that this person had wanted for several years. She found one that was for sale by an individual. Looked at it, drove it, took it to the mechanic the seller used who gave the car a clean bill of health. She went to the bank, got a loan for nearly $20,000 and bought the car. A few days later, she took the car to the dealership for that make of car to have the oil changed etc. The service writer called her to come in and talk to them about the car she had just purchased.

The person who sold her the car had taken it into this dealership several months before and it had been severely damaged. She was told that they didn't really consider the car safe to drive, and that they wouldn't work on it for her. She was given an estimate that ran close to $10,000 to restore athe car to a roadworthy condition.

This is after being told by another mechanic that the car was fine. This is after taking possession and paying for the car. She now has a very expensive lemon on her hands. She is deciding what she can do , if anything, to get her money back. I do not know all the facts of this case, but it is ugly.

In Arizona, there is very little protection for the consumer in this situation. This buyer and seller will most likely end up in the courts. When buying from a car from an individual or dealership Either take a trusted mechanic with you, or take the car to the mechanic. This is one reason why you might want to consider using a licensed automobile dealer when purchasing a car. At least you have protection under the law if you are sold a defective product.

phone messages

I find that telephones are a very necessary part of modern life. They allow us to stay in contact with friends, relatives and business contacts. The complexity of the phone system tends to bother me at times. When you call a contact on one phone system, you get a message "we will play music until we locate the user you are calling. Another system uses a message " you can press a button to leave a message or just wait for the tone" Even though these messages are useful, they tend to get aggravating. I have been using phone systems since you had to put your finger in a disk with letters and numbers on it in order to make a phone call. I think I have pretty good knowledge of how a these systems work.

I have noticed a trend that I do not quite understand. I make a phone call to talk to someone. The phone answers, and I have to listen to someones favorite music. What this music is and how long it goes on varies from person to person. I am not sure where this trend started or why. Is it that they want you to know what their favorite song is? Does this song represent a message that they want you to hear? I am not really sure.

When I make a phone call, I want to contact the person I am calling, convey a message, get a response and then go on about my business. In 99 our of 100 cases, I am not really interested in listening to music. I consider myself to be a well rounded person who appreciates music, but some types of music, I would just rather not listen to. To force someone to listen to something they don't particularly want to hear, as a requirement to speak with you, could be considered rude or selfish. If you want to talk to me, you need to hear part of my favorite song and waste your air time in order to do it.

A message if you aren't available to take a call is good. A message between the phone connecting and you answering is not so good.

trade ins

Every person who buys a car knows that at some point he will want to get rid of it. He will get tired of driving the same old set of wheels. Many times as a customer is in visiting and making a payment I get the question. When can I trade this car in? Something we always have thought about. My response is when it is about half way paid for.

I decided that I should get a little more specific. I am working on a "Trade In Guarantee", This would let you know at the time of sale, when you could trade it in and get another. No if's, and's or but's. It will be a formula that says exactly when you would be eligible to get another car. We will be rolling this out on the first of April. I can't wait to get it out to you.

Field Trip

Several weeks ago my wife led a field trip to Los Angeles with 50 high school students. Since there are several male students in the group, I went along as a chaperon. She teaches sewing, clothing design and marketing. We toured FIDM, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, to show what they taught, see the campus etc. We also went to Woodbury University, a small private school that specializes in teaching fashion design, architecture and business. This is a way to let students know what is out there, and that there are many schools to choose from. Fidm also has a large fashion show that is held in an aircraft hangar. It is a huge production and very enlightening if you have never been to one before. Several thousand spectators, a number of clothing designers and lots of models. booming sound system and lots of lights. I am always impressed at the designs that they come up with. What you see on the runway is what people will be wearing next year.

We went to Hollywood Boulevard and did the tourist thing. Took a tour of Grauman's, now Mann's Chinese theatre. The students had never seen anything quite like it. I was also impressed. We also visited Rodeo drive, to see the high dollar shops. It is amazing what they have to offer, if you have to ask a price, you shouldn't be there. We also stopped at the beach for a few minutes. Some of these students had never been there before.

My point is the students. I think about when I was that age, and there isn't a whole lot of difference. We didn't have all the electronic toys that we have now. I remember the car stereo going from 4 to 8 track and then cassette. I still have a few 8 track cartridges and player just in case. Getting back on point. There are still the students that are very obedient, outgoing and helpful. There are still the ones who are impolite and want their way and can't cooperate. and every type in between.

This is the third time I have made this trip, and it renews my faith in humanity. Even though things change, they still stay the same. I was looking at a 20 year old newspaper last week. I noticed when reading the articles, that if you changed the names of the people involved, you would be reading current events.

You do read about the teens and young people getting in trouble, but for the most part they are good people and we do have hope for the future.

Our Customer Base

I was speaking with a current customer last week. She is a young lady in her mid twenties. She mentioned her grandfather. I got to thinking about him and realized that I have known him for over 30 years. Between him, his children and grandchildren they have purchased at least 20 cars over the last 30 or so years.

This isn't the only family we have this type of relationship with. This doesn't happen by chance. It happens one person at a time, one car at a time. The word of mouth from one friend to another is the most valuable advertising you can get. Today a customer I have been dealing with for years, brought his sister in, who was looking or a car. Because of our relationship, the sister was in and out with her new car in record time.

We still believe in that old fashioned one on one. We sit down with the customer, talk about what he is looking for, what we have to offer and how we can come to an agreement. That plus th fact that you are dealing with the same team from down payment until the final payment when you collect your free and clear title.