Latest / WCHS Network Podcasts / 05/29/2024 Ask the Expert with Larry Dawson

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05/29/2024 Ask the Expert with Larry Dawson · WCHS Network Podcasts

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Group. Contact us at Meeks dot us. The views and opinions expressed on
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this program do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of five ADWCCHS it's employees
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or WVRC Media ter Plase. Good morning to you. You're listening to ask
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the expert WCHS the Boys of Charleston. I'm Del Cooper. Thanks for tuning
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in. When this Wednesday morning, in the state of West Virginia and the
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country of the United States, the city of Charleston, we are making radio
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waves this morning. Larry Dawson is in studio with us this morning, representatives
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of Stephen's Nitro in Nitro West Virginia. Larry, good morning, howre you
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doing this morning? Good morning, Good morning. If we got a subject
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to talk about, we could talk about traffic. Oh boy, man,
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was yesterday just to mess or what? Well? Chase texts me this morning.
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I think it's the same thing down somewhere along that turnpike coming northbound.
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I think he's stuck in. I believe he's attractor trailer truck on side boy,
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and I don't know where he's at. I just said, Chase,
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turn around. We'll just do this. The other time I've been stuck in
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those years ago, when I was buying cars at down around the Beckley area,
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I remember I jumped in the car and was coming up and there was
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a hazmat truck or the hazard material truck that flipped over very close to the
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last toll booth. That's when right after that's when they started changing and put
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the detour side and took those center blocks where they could be movable. Because
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I sat in that. If I remember right, I said about ten hours.
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One time it was stuck. They wouldn't allow traffic northbound because the accident
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happened right to toll booth and it was two tractor trailer trucks to Clydeed.
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And thank goodness, I had this radio station to listen to it to keep
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me updated because I didn't have anything other than it was a hot it was
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a hot day. I just picked up a vehicle. Me and actually my
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truck driver. I called him, I said, something's going on, and
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he was able to get off the I think it's called the mainheim At I
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don't know, one of those accents. And he was yeah, to go
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up to Montgomery and down. I mean, he was a while getting there,
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but at least he was moving. But it's funny you say that,
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because I was looking at the traffic this morning and it looks like that's about
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where the accident is once again this morning, just before the Mahunt or my
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Hane I I'm not sure which it is, but just before that accident,
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it looks like that's where the accident is this morning, and it is.
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It looks like traffic is backed up all the way to Westerly and uh oh,
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yeah, it's it's very bad. It's a parking lot. Yeah,
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it's very bad. You know, when you're in the automobile business such as
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Chase, and I was, I still kind of am, but you know,
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we car guys were always moving. You know, we're moving cars,
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we're moving inventory because our inventory. And you know with Steven's Automotive, they
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have a Minsu issue store in Princeton, they have Chevrolet store in o'khill,
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which he I thinks Chase lives in that area. Then have a super center
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in Somersville, one in Beckley, and they recently took my location over,
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so they have one a Nitro well that requires movement of your inventory. And
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in the automobile business, we have to pick the inventory up and sit in
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the seat and drive it. And that is the that is the downside.
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I would say that sometimes we all experience. If you're in a car business,
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especially in today's world where you have multiple locations, you know you don't
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always have the product in front of your consumers. So what do you have
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to do. You either got to go get or have it brought in sure,
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and you know you're you're you have to rely up on the transportation of
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the roads. Now, yesterday, let's say you had some inventory coming in.
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Well, it's probably a late arrival. If you had it, sounds
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like Chase, God blessing Me's stuck in traffic. But if you're coming out
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of the South and trying to get north into Charleston, you're going to have
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a delay in inventory. So but that's a part of it. I mean,
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that's the automobiles is a wonderful business and and uh, I lived and
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breathed it for so long. And when when when Chase, When Chase texts
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me this morning, I thought, wow, deja vu because I can remember
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coming out Lewis Lewis Chevrolets where I was at, and that's the that was
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they lost to Chevrolet store in the wind down. So that's how long it
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goes been. Boy. I remember it when you said when you sit ten
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or twelve hours in a vehicle, and I mean it was a parking lot
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they were. There was people coming back and I believe I can't recall,
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but it was midsummer, maybe July or August, and so obviously a lot
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of people in West Virginia. They go to Myrtle Beach and they were you
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know, they're driving north coming back home and you get stuck in the six
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step. I remember people getting launch chairs out coolers and having, you know,
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having the dinner because you were not going anywhere and we're I was stuck
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at there was a rock wall on the right hand side. There was the
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cement wall between the two, and the lane that was going south was over
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the horizon a little bit. In other words, it's not where they run
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parallel, it's where it split in the southbound lane sits a lower elevation the
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northbound, So I saw nothing. I mean, I just sat there and
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relied heavily up on this radio station to tell me what the heck was going
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on. Man, I think that one of the worst traffic jams I ever
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got stuck in was And for me, anyway, that maybe is the worst
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time to get stuck in a traffic gyp. Maybe except for when you're on
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the way the hospital for some reason or another. But we're on our way
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back from vacation, so not to vacation. You're on your way back already
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tired, already grumpy, already like, oh boy, you know, I
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just spent this entire vacation and I'm still tired, you know, the whole
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thing. And one time we got stuck in a in a traffic jam in
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Tennessee and it just lasted. It was outside Nashville. It just lasted forever
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and ever and ever. And then the last time that we went to Florida
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last year, we were driving back and we were in Atlanta. By the
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way, I'm never driving to Florida again, but we're in Atlanta, and
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uh, and it was it was. There was accidents that was crazy busy.
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I forget there was some something going on in town, a race or
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an event or maybe the Final four or something like something was going on,
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and it was just picked. It was just terrible. And that's when I
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realized it. I'm a little bit, if I have to admit a little
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bit, I've lost some of my savvy when it comes to traveling because I
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used to travel. I mean, I've circlemented the country twice, I've traveled
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different countries, I've driven all over the place, but frankly, for the
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last fifteen years or so, I haven't driven driven around all that much.
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So I was not aware that our easy pass that we have here is actually
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transferable to other places that have partner in Atlanta too, you could get into
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that into the HV lane or to the express lane and just go and man,
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nobody down there had it. I mean, it was like I felt
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like I was breaking the wall because I've I was like, what we can
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use this here. I was like, went over to that lane and just
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flew through Atlanta and there was hardly any traffic and all. I couldn't believe
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it. I'm like, this is legal. I can't believe this is legal.
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I did that coming back from Florida once again an experience, but I
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had the easy past, and Kim shared with me, she said, you
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can hit that lane. I felt like a criminal right waiting to get caught,
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and I did, How is this possible? Why doesn't everybody do this?
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I'm glad they don't, but my goodness, Well, when you get
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in traffic situations such as Jase's in and the people that have been in,
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you realize how many automobiles is out there? Or oh well, I'm speaking
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of automobiles. You know they have to you have to purchase your automobile,
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automobile somewhere in the franchise, the new car, the used car franchises.
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You know where the suppliers and have been. And that's the nice thing about
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when you come to Steven's Auto Group that you have you have several choices,
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and they how the new business is working today. And I've sat back and
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observed is that they via the computer. But you can look at the inventory.
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You know, you can you say, shop and line. You can
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virtually sit and watch and see and do everything but touch. And that's the
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nice thing about the large rooftops of multiple franchises and having that inventory, you
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know, and not so long ago. And I don't think I'm that old,
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but I have been around for quite some time in the automobile business,
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and now that I'm somewhat retired, I have I get asked different questions now
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from kind of the same people. I think one time, when you're in
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the automobile and you're selling and that's what you're doing, that person may have
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that question, may be hesitant because they may not be buying from you or
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looking at your product. They might be wanting to ask or a question,
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but they don't offend you because they're looking somewhere else. Well, now I've
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hit that part of my life that they ask questions, and I'm getting asked
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a few different questions. And I realized that when I went over the weekend,
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I went to Somersville and spent time with I think there was six rate
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couples. And as I was sitting there at a relaxed moment and not having
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to worry about, you know, rushing back to the office because this was
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my first trip to Somersville that I was you know, not Larry Dawson's out
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of cells, and I was taken back. I guess I was observing things
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that I have never really quite observed, and that is how many products is
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out there? SUVs and trucks that was pulling these campers. Either you're driving
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it such as I do I have a motor home, or you're pulling a
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fifth wheel or a Class C trailer. And I was just Somemmrsville was very
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busy, very busy. So either he's taking your boat in or taking your
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camp er in. And as I was walking around the campground, is the
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different varieties of vehicles, you know, I guess I looked at it once
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before word this is inventory. Now I look at a little different because you
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know, I'm not looking at it now that's I need to buy one of
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those, or that that looks cool. Is this I've set back now as
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a lay person thought that's interesting. You know what they're doing and what's out
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there, and there's a I guess there's a lot more out there than what
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I realized, not only in vehicles, but I realized the camper has changed
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too, the modernization. A friend of mine, actually a very close friend
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of mine, he had just bought a twenty maybe it's a twenty four,
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brand new camper and it has solar panels on it. He would show me
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things that had on it that if we just go back just a little bit,
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just a few years, that wasn't available. Well, you know these
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new vehicles today. It's the same way. If you don't stay up to
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date continuing education, you can get lost. And that's the nice thing about
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having these multiple franchise that they have is that you have to have or what
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I call it credits. You have to be certified in some of these fields
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to gain your points or your commission or whatever may be perks. The CSI
11:11
has become a very big things, my fellow. A lot of dealers are
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telling me, and that's keeping and constant contact with your customer. I drive
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a Ford truck. I bought it new last year, and on my phone,
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I have an app and if I need to get service or things like
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that, I can pick up and call my friendly neighborhood salesman or the dealership,
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or I can go through the phone. Well, we wouldn't be having
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this discussion not too long ago. I mean, I'm going to say in
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the last ten years, and probably the last five years is when that has
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really came on. Is that you're you know you can and they'll pick your
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vehicle up in some some some situations. I do not know. Every dealership
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is different, every franchise is different, but I think they're all following the
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same trend is where you and that's a very very nice convenient perk, especially
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if you're a working person, if you know of your single parent that you
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can have that vehicle picked up service and brought back to you. I believe
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Chase shared with us that they have had a new service director come to their
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Ford christ store there in Damble and recognize the name because his father or the
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family once owned a new car store. So you get someone that's familiar with
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the in and outs of the automobile purchase. That's a very very big perk,
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at least in my world. That once again that my world has changed.
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But I try to stay in contact, and I think I'm doing a
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good job of keeping myself abreast to what's happening. And a nice thing about
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it is now when I talk a matter of fact, I talk to an
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automobile dealer on my way up here, and that's affiliated with Subaru and what's
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going on with Subaru. You know, I'm not I'm just a curious individual.
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It's always wanting to learn, sure and trying to you know, in
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an industry you're very intimate with, so of course you do. Well.
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If I come to this show and representing the Stevens family and of automobile dealerships,
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I want to least know kind of what's going on. I can't rely
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always up on what you read, you know what you might hear. But
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I always found that you know, if you have that conversation. I talked
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to a gentleman last night that's worked for well, it's the Moses family for
13:30
about twenty years, and he and I was just talking chop. You know,
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what's going on there and what am I doing and what's new in that
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world and you know what's on horizon and the automobile and it keeps me the
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rest of what I guess my foundation and I build on that I just couldn't
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imagine. And I don't know how to do anything really other than automobiles.
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But let's just say that I built houses for a living, and I decided
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to lay my tools down, and the Stevens family bought my facility and my
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tools and all that. I think I'd still peddle. I'd still want to
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stay right there in the game. Maybe not competitive, not doing it for
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a living. And let me tell you something, it's a whole lot more
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fun doing what I'm doing now, sure, because I went from a job
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to a hobby, and it was a hobby that I did as a job,
14:20
and monetarily, you know, my earning years is behind me, so
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I have no other reason to do anything but enhance into help. I just
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couldn't imagine going to my job if I was a carpenter and sitting in my
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lunch box with a cell phone in my hands, staring at it, you
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know, trying to do my job. Shove that thing to the site and
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do your job. In the car world, you have to stay in contact,
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and networking is very, very very important. At least it was my
14:50
biggest asset. As I've told people, when I was in how Gosh first
14:56
grade, second grade, I had a speech impediment. I went to speech
15:01
therapy school, and I think I went before first grade. I had to
15:03
develop communication skills. I saw where Bill Walton I did not know this,
15:09
but Bill Walton would just passed away. He had one when he was younger.
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He overcame it by reading that he took up reading, well, I
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guess I took up talking. I'm beginning back to reading. As I told
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you last week, I said, I have kind of picked the books back
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up and read, and not always about automobiles, now about other things.
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But it's nice to feel it at my age, at sixty six, I'm
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still wanting to learn. You know, I still have an open mind.
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But most of all, I've got a lot of experience that I can share.
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My knowledge is free, and you want to share it, just got
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to find people that are willing to take it. Sometimes, well, I
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think that troubles me in some areas. And it's not somebody that's born in
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a decade or a decade and a half of ma. It's they're two or
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three decades back that it doesn't seem like they opened their ears and their mind
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up as quick as I used to. You know, because I was always
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one that looking at the experienced which came with age. I wanted to learn.
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I wanted I wanted to see how they did it, what worked,
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what failed. Because you talked to any automobile dealer, they'll tell you that
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that didn't work. You know, you said something full we come on,
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that worked real well was marked down with Tom Pete. Oh yeah, man,
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I mean we still talk about it. Yeah. That what killed me
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about that or not? It was just something I was one vacation traveled.
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I can't remember. I went out of state when I was a young person,
16:52
and those and those ads were running here in West Virginia and I went
16:56
somewhere else where they were also running. I didn't realize that that was a
17:00
national campaign that was regionally locked. So you know, Tom Pedon owned this
17:06
region and so mark Down was part of what was part of the the ped
17:08
and brand. But if you went to somewhere else in the country, well,
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Mark Down was over there too, and he was he was peddling cars
17:14
for somebody and I don't know, Kansas or wherever the heck I was.
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I can't remember, but I found that interesting. But the reason for that
17:19
is it was a really really effective campaign. When we get off the air,
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and if you have a moment, go to Johnson Automotive in Tennessee and
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look to their ads. They do it around a badger. Oh wow,
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we don't bad you know, we don't. Oh, we don't badger you.
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Oh very good, very good. I don't know if they're still doing
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it, but it's hilarious. It's on YouTube. I mean it is hilarious,
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and they're Sarah of them. And I've said, you know once again
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as you look back and you wondered, how did I do that? How
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did that work? And I think enthusiasm is the key. You know,
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Chase Barton is a very enthusiastic person. I've watched him grow up in the
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automobile world. I knew his father and he's a true car person. And
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that shows. And if you're going to do this, and if you're going
18:11
to do it twelve hours a day, seven days a week like we all
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do, is that you want to be able to express your enthusiasm about your
18:19
trade. You know, you show me a carpenter that's a craftsman, I'll
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show you a really good carpenter. You know. I think I can operate
18:29
a saw, and I believe I could get two boards bound together somehow that
18:33
would look like a craftsman. Absolutely not. If I didn't cut a finger
18:38
off or pound and nail through my hand, I could get him together.
18:41
There's a difference between having a joint to come together and it just work,
18:47
and then somebody that could actually craft the thing to go together, you know,
18:49
seamlessly and gapless, and it looks beautiful and everything else. Both might
18:52
function about the same, but one is masterly crafted and the other one is,
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hey, it will work. Oh yeah, yeah it was again.
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It's we've all been to doctors and and you know, you walk in there,
19:04
and especially if you're not familiar with your physician or your dentist, and
19:08
you walk in for the first or maybe the second time, or maybe all
19:11
the time, that bedside manners goes a long way. Now, how many
19:15
people have you said I didn't have a good experience, do you not?
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Doctor? Yeah, but you know he was. He was kind of dragged
19:22
and kind of cold and kind of this, and I think he was in
19:25
a hurry. Probably well, first of all, he probably was in a
19:27
hurry, or you get that fuzzy warm feeling, you know. I my
19:33
personal physicians, Myron Lewis, we're we're buds. I mean, you know,
19:37
I go down, hey, Myron, Hey, you don't We talked
19:38
a little bit about hurricane and Putnam County. Then you know, I go,
19:41
well look at this, what do you think? You know the same
19:44
with Johnny Starcher, my dentist, I just care I'd be lost with that
19:48
Johnny Starcher if he was to retire. And you know, Johnny's within a
19:52
year of my age, so it's up and coming. But we have built
19:56
a bond in relation to a network where I can, I could, I
19:57
could text him right now. When you have that relationship with your car person,
20:03
you know, your physician, You and I have built this. Don't
20:07
lose it, you know, don't don't burn a bridge over something that maybe
20:11
you maybe you took the wrong way, or somebody was in a hurry,
20:15
or maybe they just missed tight you know, any communication, give them a
20:19
chance. And that's what I've you know, in an automobile world, I
20:23
built a business in Nitro that the Stevens family, Steven's Automotive Group now is
20:30
occupying. But it was a thirty seven year business and it was built for
20:34
them and for them to take over when they came in. You know,
20:38
I wasn't there to compete. I was there to enhance. And when people
20:42
asked me, I said, if I can do anything to help you,
20:45
I mean, I'm gonna help you. No one is a bigger cheerleader than
20:51
myself. I don't know if I really had to come up here today.
20:53
Chase text me yesterday and I said, if you want to do it alone,
20:56
he said, well, I'd like to do it with you, and
20:57
I said, I'll be there, you know, because I slept him.
21:00
I don't know, maybe I had to fight that. But I'm enthusiastic in
21:04
the automobile world and this kind of allows me to stay connected. Sure,
21:08
and what better cheerleaders the guy that did it before you took this chair.
21:12
It's musical chairs. It's your turn in a chair, and I'm not gonna
21:15
do anything but keep you in that chair. And that's why that I guess
21:22
at heart when I look around and I still want to be active, and
21:26
maybe if someone asks me an opinion or suggestion, I'm willing to give what
21:32
advice I've had that worked for me in the past. And I'll tell you
21:34
some stuff that doesn't work too well. You know that's all about you know,
21:38
experimentation is all about failure more so than successus in a minute, you
21:44
know that, Yeah, exactly. The person that will never make a mistake,
21:48
he's gonna fail. I have this conversation with my daughter, of all
21:52
things, and I mean this absolutely seriously, because she's a clever kid.
21:56
And she's always she's always building things, putting things together, trying to get
22:00
things to match and things like that. And she has a tendency to get
22:03
a little angry when it doesn't work out for her the way it should.
22:06
And probably all kids get frustrated in that way, shape or form. But
22:07
I try to explain to her, I'm like, honey, failure is part
22:11
of success, because what do you know now that you didn't know before you
22:15
failed at that? I don't know. It's like, you know what doesn't
22:18
work. When you start eliminating things that don't work, it gets you closer
22:21
to things that do work, honey, So you just have to approach it
22:22
from a different angle next time. And it's actually a kind of a hard
22:26
message for everybody not to mention my six year old, but that really is
22:29
true. I mean, I mean, I think Thomas Edison famously talked about
22:33
how failure led to his successes, like for every success he had, he
22:36
had thousands of failures that led to it. I mean, the light Bob's
22:37
a great example of that. You got to be able to allow yourself to
22:41
fail sometimes well over the years in operating and being one on one with the
22:47
consumer. I have found, and I think this lays true in a lot
22:52
of commodities. It's not only the automobile business, but the reason they are
22:56
there, and if they have been somewhere out wasn't a price. They didn't
23:02
have a good experience with a salesperson, Yeah right, they classed all And
23:07
you know you can be too aggressive. I honestly, I've told people I
23:11
was not an aggressive salesperson. I was more of get to know you person.
23:17
I am fussy and I think that you identify this in people, and
23:21
that's what's made you so successful. And it's just what we talk about.
23:23
Every week. There's a sandwich shop. I like to go to the sandwich
23:26
shop. I like to go to the same guy, more or less was
23:30
there every time I went for a decade. We knew each other by name,
23:33
knew a little bit by my friend. Weren't friends, but we were
23:34
friendly with each other and knew a little bit about our families and stuff.
23:37
And the guy hooked me up on the sandwich every time I went. It
23:40
was a great sandwich. He doesn't work there anymore. Guess where I don't
23:42
go as often? Yep, although I would if somebody asked me, I
23:45
would still say that's my favorite sandwich shop, but my favorite employee is no
23:48
longer there. I just don't go as often. It's not the same thing
23:52
when you have that established relationship between you and a salesperson, you and the
23:59
profession, whatever it may be. You know what becomes the least significant.
24:03
This price yep. Now, price may brought you in there, but you
24:08
can take a best price in the world and not have a good communication between
24:14
the two and you're not gonna sell. You're absolutely right, you're not gonna
24:17
sell. This place is kind of expensive. But before, because of the
24:19
experience I got with my quasi friend that was over there, it didn't bother
24:22
me. Now I'm like, man, I'm not going to pay that Sawa
24:26
right now, let's do this. Let's go ahead and take a break.
24:27
When we come back, we shall have plenty to talk about. You can
24:30
direct the conversation as well, if you have any questions for Larry. You
24:33
want to talk about anything at all about business, about cars. Larry has
24:34
something. Before we go, we got an update, Chase. This text
24:37
me I seventy seven North is now open. Oh, there we go,
24:41
so the traffic report. Thank you, Chase. I don't think I'll make
24:44
it in time, Chase, but we appreciate it. So seventy seven North
24:45
this was this was happening leading North Mount End to Charleston on the turnpike.
24:52
Though we had an accident down there a little bit ago. So that's been
24:53
cleared away now, so folks should be coming. Thus break. It's going
24:56
to take a break, we'll come back. We can have your phone calls
24:59
at threes are a four four three four five fifty eight fifty eight, three
25:00
four five fifty eight fifty eight. You can text over any questions you have
25:03
or comments. The three zero four nine three five five zero zero eight you're
25:06
listening to ask the expert. Larry Dawson is here from Steven's Auto and Nitro,
25:10
and you can give us a call at three zero four three four five
25:11
fifty eight fifty eight. You're listening to ask the expert. Wchs the Voice
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26:34
You're listening to ask the expert, whs the Voice of Charleston. It's about
26:38
eleven minutes to the top of the hour till nine o'clock. Larry Dawson is
26:41
in studio with me this morning. I'm del Cooper on five adwchas you get
26:45
us all this morning. If you'd like to talk to Larry about business,
26:48
about cars, about anything along those lines, and traffic, yep that we're
26:52
doing traffic updates in real time too. Three zero four three four five fifty
26:55
fifty eight. Three zero four, three four five fifty fifty eight is our
26:56
number. You can also text over any questions. You have to be four
27:00
nine three five five zeros of your eight. I have to ask Larre.
27:02
You talked about taking a little trip up to Somersville. You're on vacation.
27:06
You took the r V out. You didn't that phone going off wasn't bothering
27:10
you quite so much this time? Right? That is true? That is
27:12
true. And I saw I saw a group of people I don't get to
27:17
see a lot of I don't venture up there that much, but I was
27:21
good seeing my little group of friends out to in the boat and it was
27:23
really nice not having that phone. You know, what's going on to office
27:27
or someone college. I took the one thing that I still receive now.
27:33
Well, I won't say daily, but I have such a network of I
27:37
will say friends and and people acquaintances that still want to know about automobiles or
27:42
maybe want to sell an automobile or they want to buy an automobile. And
27:47
I share with people that's that's not bothersome to me. You know, it's
27:52
the four it's the five alarm that goes off that you have to worry about
27:56
it on that phone. But it's still where people you know, we'll get
28:00
hold of Larry, see what Larry thinks. And if I can pass some
28:03
experience, if I can have pass some vice or send someone the Stevens way,
28:10
you know, feel free to text me. Everybody has my number,
28:12
you know. I try to get some recommendations from work done around the house,
28:15
I give them my number. I mean, when you've had the same
28:18
cell phone number since nineteen eighty nine, I think was my first cell phone?
28:25
Wow, that phone and when when sell one was over here at on
28:30
the corner of Virginia and summers. Remember, okay, well they start out
28:34
one. I'm o too, eleven, so I was one of the first
28:38
ones in there. Wow. And I've kept that number so even people with
28:42
bad experiences remember that number. That to eleven. So it's it's and it
28:48
was an easy number to remember to eleven. But I'm not shy about the
28:53
number. And you know, it's like I gave the illustration the other day
28:56
when you and I was on the on the air, I said, you,
29:00
you know, when you're out trying to sell your car, you're better
29:03
off maybe going to an automobile dealer since the Stevens which which which will purchase
29:07
your car? Because you're giving that information out. I showed you we simply
29:12
people wasn't listening last show, we put my cell phone number in five four
29:17
five zero two eleven. You're sitting inside of computer. It'll tell you everything
29:21
about me, even if you don't know me. And that's frightening. You
29:25
know, the cats out of the bag. So it's not like I can
29:26
hide it. You know, I've been Larry Dawson for a long time,
29:30
and Larry Dawson's Auto Sales. Now it's Steven's Auto Nitro. But that name
29:33
stays there, and fortunately or unfortunately, in this world of Google, you
29:38
know you can. You can just put in a couple, couple of numbers
29:41
or a couple of names. It's kind of frightening. One will show up
29:45
the thing that I'll precaution folks about because I know this is coming. And
29:51
some of the more techy things that I read and listen to. So the
29:53
whole world of scammers where they where they scrape your your data. So I
29:57
get something right now that that's that's on a mid level. So I'll get
30:00
spam emails all the time that scrape my LinkedIn, and so it pulls information
30:04
from my LinkedIn and it uses AI to craft a message. It seems like
30:07
it knows me. Hey, Coop, we were just talking to the other,
30:10
you know, whatever it might be. However, I have some things
30:12
that I accidentally put in my LinkedIn years ago, like some capitalization mistakes and
30:17
a spelling mistake that's in there that I should have fixed, and I don't
30:21
now because those are great indicators. When I get things that reflect those mistakes
30:25
in the profile, I know that that was scrape for my LinkedIn bios.
30:29
So I just leave it there. I don't care if it's misspelled, and
30:30
if I have weird capitalization. I know now when somebody is using AI to
30:36
scrape it to send me to send messages. But what's going to start happening
30:38
is they're going to be able to collect the stuff off your LinkedIn, off
30:41
of your Facebook that you leave public, off of your ex post Twitter that
30:45
you leave public, dump all of those into an AI session and say,
30:51
take all this information I just dumped, and tell me about this person,
30:53
and then they'll be able to answer questions in real time. What's my son's
30:56
name, what's my daughter's name, when's my daughter's birth? If you posted
31:00
that stuff on Facebook at any given time, although it might take me forever
31:03
to go through it and look at and try to write this stuff down,
31:06
you dump that stuff into an AI session, it will automatically parse all that
31:10
information for you. Suddenly your scammer knows you very well and can answer questions
31:15
that you wouldn't think it would be able to answer. So just be careful
31:18
out here. This is definitely coming. Did I tell you I had I
31:23
went on a few months ago, probably a year ago. Long story short
31:27
is that my payroll count was through a different lender or different bank than my
31:33
main account, which is Putnam County back and somewhere I can't remember. The
31:37
computer's glitch anyway, was asking me my password, I guess of verification sent
31:42
out and I didn't answer it right, and so I had to call.
31:49
We went through a number of Q and a's questions, and finally this gentleman
31:55
says, add your driver license numbers up and tell me what. Oh yeah,
32:00
I've done that one before. Yeah, so I ended up since Bengo
32:07
all was good. Oh okay, yeah, you're great. Yeah, and
32:09
I never thought about that. Yeah. Phone call. Oh, we got
32:13
a phone call. Okay, for some reason, I didn't ge Jeff's a
32:15
message. I don't know how. We'll give Jeff a minute to go over
32:19
there, and then we'll come back and take the phone call. Oh I
32:21
know why I left my phone upstairs. I was just looking for my phone,
32:25
and I was like, oh, well, that's probably a good reason,
32:28
as I left my phone upstairs. And that's how Jeff lets me know
32:30
that we have messages. I think that Jeff, as soon as you get
32:34
over there, let's go ahead and bring our caller on line and let's see
32:38
if we could do I apologize for that. I don't often lose my phone.
32:42
I should have given him your number and he could have texted you to
32:44
let you know the idea. It might be very well could be. So
32:47
let's go ahead and take the caller on line. Sorry to leave you a
32:51
holding their communication break down there. Good morning, how you doing this morning?
32:54
Good morning? I'm so happy to be able to talk to Larry Greg.
32:59
What's your first My name is from Tornado, So there I had a
33:07
question. I drive a twenty twelve Honda Cord with two hundred and sixty eight
33:15
thousand miles and I love this car. My last Honda was thirteen when I
33:22
gave her away, So I'm known for holding on to my cars and I
33:27
take very good care of them. The catalytic converter went out online about six
33:32
weeks ago, and those are on a nationwide shortage with with no estimation of
33:42
when one might be available from the factory. Well it's through Honda, Yeah,
33:49
through Honda. They said they come from overseas. They have no control
33:52
over it, and of course I agree. The course come first served,
33:58
so I had to order it to go. Well, not this, we
34:02
sotlly have a third vehicle that I'm driving, but it's a truck that you
34:07
have cost to goss knowledge that my Honda does. Have you tried to an
34:12
aftermarket Caelee converter? Have you tried to go from an oe M, which
34:17
is equipment of manufacturer or original equipment and manufacturer. Have you tried an after
34:23
market such as I tell you since you live in Tornado and when I was
34:28
an auto dealer and I would experience a Caelee converter failure, there's a place
34:32
in Saint Albans that puts Calete converters on. It's right near you, so
34:38
you may want to try that. It does not have to be a factory
34:44
Honda converter. Well that was my question for you, because guess I do
34:50
want to pursue that because I have not. My car could be sitting out
34:53
here. From that go down to quality exhaust in Saint Albans. Thank you
34:59
very much, I will do that. I knew the Honda, even if
35:02
I came up with the converter, could not put it in for me because
35:06
they only installed uh, you know, Honda, genuine Honda parts, and
35:12
I don't think they'll have a problem with that. In fact, many years
35:15
ago with my other Honda. They told me that before the car went to
35:20
inspection. Next time, I was going to have to have a new exhausted
35:23
right right, But don't bring it here because we have to put genuine cars
35:29
on it, and it cheap or somewhere else. Go down there and tell
35:31
them Larry sentce you. I sure will, thank you so much, Thank
35:37
you, Jennifer, appreciate that phone call, and sorry to make you make
35:38
you a hold there. That's unusual for years and years and years I've done
35:43
the show and we've just simply used a text mechanism to let us know.
35:45
And I forgot my phone up in my office. Unbelievable. Well, you
35:49
know in technology world today that that at my age, I'm trying to keep
35:55
up. Thank goodness for grandchildren that you can have them. They fix this.
36:00
But you know it's somewhat difficult because we realize so heavy and what you
36:07
was telling me about AI, what little bit I have read, it's scary.
36:10
What is the possibility we might be facing. It's a tool like anything
36:15
else. I mean, I know that I've used it to help me with
36:17
stuff, to condense my amount of work that I'm doing, just on stuff
36:21
that is easy to collect. Data. But it makes me think also when
36:24
I'm like, man, that was awful easy. If I was a bad
36:27
person, you know how I could use this. You know, it's a
36:29
little frightening. I think there's nothing wrong with the old way where you walk
36:32
out and stick at your hand and say hi, I'm Larry down and start
36:37
communicating. And I guess when that day is going is when I've got to
36:42
go because it's what built me, is the brand that was built and now
36:45
it's passed along to Steven's Auto Nitro and you're going to find when you go
36:50
there, ask for Jody Johnson. Jody's a sales manager there. I just
36:53
found out he's off to day. But Jody is probably one of the nicest
36:57
individuals I have ever met. And what really makes this a pleasant experience is
37:02
I am next door and I'm operating just to have a place to go to
37:07
open my mail and to say hey, I'm still a dealer, you know,
37:09
and there's a car too. But I couldn't ask for a better person
37:15
that had stepped in than Jody Johnson Chase Barton and which receives the Jody's over
37:19
there and we'll sit there on the fence and sitters or talk like we've known
37:22
each other forever. And that's what I think when people wills into this to
37:28
the store and they experienced it all these years before, so you can expect
37:32
to say steps Stephens of Nitro dot com. Stephens of Nitro dot com is
37:37
where you can find more information for eighteen First Avenue South in Nitro, West
37:40
Virginia's where you can find Steven's Auto three zero four seven two seven zero four
37:45
six four seven two seven zero four six word Larry, that's going to do
37:47
it for us. Thanks so much. We were talking today. We'll say
37:49
you next web next week. Back here on Wednesday. That's Larry Dawson Flarr
37:52
Dawson's autosseuse have a great day everyone. On five eight do we see hs
37:58
fighting? You see Hsel six point five as then Charleston one oh four point
38:01
five Cross Lane a WUVRC media station. We're proud to live here too.