Latest / Laugh Love Law / Talking Evrything Auto…and so much more: with Mike LaRocca

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Talking Evrything Auto…and so much more: with Mike LaRocca · Laugh Love Law

0:13
SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to Laugh Love Law.
0:15
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us again.
0:16
SPEAKER_02: If buying or leasing a car makes you want to lie down in a dark room and scream, today's guest may be your new best friend.
0:24
SPEAKER_02: Mike Laraca spent years on the dealership side of the car business before becoming an autobroker and helping people navigate the process from the other side of the desk.
0:34
SPEAKER_02: But there's more to Mike than cars and monthly payments.
0:37
SPEAKER_02: During COVID, when everyone was isolated and kids were missing birthdays and celebrations, Mike used his love of cars to help create huge car parades for Long Island families, bringing a little bit of happiness to people during a really strange time.
0:53
SPEAKER_02: So, yes, I'm gonna ask him about cars and I'm gonna ask him what dealerships don't want us to know.
0:57
SPEAKER_02: And I'm also gonna ask him to explain why sometimes the number on the paper is that never the number that he thought you agreed to.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: Mike Laraca, welcome to Laugh Love Law.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
1:09
SPEAKER_02: You like that intro?
1:10
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
1:11
SPEAKER_02: Good.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: What is something that doesn't make it into your professional bio?
1:15
SPEAKER_02: What is something people should know about you, but it's not out there?
1:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm really a nice person.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: If you you dealt with me, I'm very uh cut and dry, black and white, but there's just certain things that I I like to do.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: Like last night I got a uh a text from somebody that I'm not even very good friends with, just an acquaintance and things like that.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: A goal for his kids' school.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: The goal's$500, they're at$175.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: The guy's doing this all weekend.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Goal hit, done.
1:49
SPEAKER_02: Oh, so you're a good guy.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: It's yeah, it's certain things, family, kids, values.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: I'm very fortunate in life.
1:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:58
SPEAKER_01: Things like that.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: You I'll fight with you over ten dollars on stupid stuff, kids, family, school, important things.
2:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: Hands down, done.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: No question.
2:09
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
2:09
SPEAKER_02: I know a little bit about being in a profession that people think is uh, you know, a crappy one.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: They think most lawyers are uh, you know, not the greatest people, but I'm a good guy too.
2:18
SPEAKER_02: So I get it.
2:20
SPEAKER_02: Um Were you always a car person?
2:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: Always.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: Always.
2:25
SPEAKER_02: What was your first car?
2:26
SPEAKER_01: 72 Buick Skylock GS clone.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: And who bought that car?
2:30
SPEAKER_02: Did you buy it?
2:30
SPEAKER_01: No, my dad.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: My dad's an electrical engineer.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: He's a nerd, doesn't play sports, doesn't know not me.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, any way, shape, or form.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm adopted, gotta be nothing like my family.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: So when you turned 15, you got a thousand dollars.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: You picked your muscle car from 15 till 17, 18 when you graduated high school, you were his Saturday, Sunday, you built a car with him.
2:55
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's a nice story.
2:57
SPEAKER_01: So that's that's what you did.
2:59
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
2:59
SPEAKER_02: And how long did you have that car?
3:02
SPEAKER_01: That punk sold it last weekend without telling me.
3:05
SPEAKER_02: Oh he had it a long time.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he tried to hand me 3,000 for the hood that I always joke with him.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: That's the only part on the car I paid for.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: And he took it over when I went to college.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: I bought an 84Z28, and uh, that's still in my garage.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and that became his, and it wasn't there last weekend.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so you started on the dealership side and eventually became a broker.
3:31
SPEAKER_02: What made you leave the dealership world and do this your way?
3:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh I was banned.
3:39
SPEAKER_02: I knew there was gonna be a good story here.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: I uh found some loopholes in some loopy situations.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: And I was asked not to come back.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: And and so something like that was either traumatic and or like life-changing because it opened your eyes and you realized you had to come at it at a different angle.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: At the time it was, you know, all you want to do is run a dealership, you want to be the guy.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: I I had the trajectory, the path, the obviously what I thought was the great ideas that aren't so great, but those are the best ideas that put you where you are.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I got to flip the script and use the loopholes to now do what I do to to save people money rather than take it out of their pockets.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: So it's really interesting.
4:35
SPEAKER_02: Again, I'm gonna say this.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: I'm not a car person, and usually the car decisions, the car choices goes to my husband.
4:41
SPEAKER_02: Um whatever.
4:42
SPEAKER_02: But I needed a new car earlier this year, and my sister had used Mike, and I reached out to him, I think, on a Monday.
4:50
SPEAKER_02: I said, This is what I want, this is my budget, and he's like, Oh, okay.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: He's like, I could have it for you on Wednesday.
4:59
SPEAKER_02: Like it's two days from now.
5:01
SPEAKER_02: And so we we make a deal, and when he delivers the car to my office and takes away my old car, he says, Oh, by the way, the price I quoted you, and I was like, Oh, here we go.
5:12
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Well, I told you it was this, but it's actually sixty dollars less a month.
5:17
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, What?
5:19
SPEAKER_02: And the terms that he gave me, they were better when he came to deliver the car.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: So I was a little intrigued because most of the time car brokers, car dealers get like that, you know, kind of that shyster kind of reputation.
5:34
SPEAKER_02: But you were nothing like that.
5:36
SPEAKER_02: So I I recommend Mike to anybody that's looking for a car.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: I mean, if somebody tells you you're gonna pay more, and then they're like, oh wait, we can do better.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's interesting to me.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: It's it's I I have a belief.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: You do you don't do to somebody what you wouldn't want done to yourself.
5:53
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm in this situation because somebody did to me.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: So now I I try to live by that.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: If you're buying a car from me, you have a trade-in, you have this, you have that, I don't need to earn on every aspect.
6:03
SPEAKER_01: I don't need to make three times on one person.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: I need to make one time.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: If I can move your car and there's money in it, I'm gonna pass that money along to you.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: If the program changes between Monday and Wednesday when I bring you the car and it changes in your favor, you're gonna get the favor.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: If it changes against you, I'm gonna eat it.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: Why?
6:21
SPEAKER_01: Because we made a deal.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: So I tweak everything.
6:24
SPEAKER_01: When I give you a ballpark, I give you a number.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: That's a number that I'm more than comfortable with that I know I can do.
6:30
SPEAKER_02: So you want to make sure that the customer's getting a great deal.
6:33
SPEAKER_02: You're also making a little bit of money, but you don't need to bring home the whole bank.
6:37
SPEAKER_01: Profit's not a bad word.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: That's how you every business makes a profit.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: That's how everybody survives.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: I don't need to to kill you.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: I don't need to get fat off you.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: I want the ten people like you sent me a million people.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: I got you from your sister.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:52
SPEAKER_01: I got your your sister sends me a million people.
6:54
SPEAKER_02: And then you get my other sister.
6:56
unknown: Yeah.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: We're trying, that's a tricky one.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: All right, so here's my question.
7:00
SPEAKER_02: Everyone has like the uncle or the brother that thinks they're so good at negotiating.
7:04
SPEAKER_02: Like, don't go to that dealership alone.
7:07
SPEAKER_02: Make sure I come with you.
7:09
SPEAKER_02: How bad are most people at negotiating at a car dealership?
7:13
SPEAKER_01: It's not that they're bad.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: They do everything that what they think is good negotiating is things that are used against them.
7:21
SPEAKER_01: It's it's you don't want to help somebody that's a pain in the ass.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: And it's the same thing at the dealership.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: It's you you ask for too much, you ask for this, you beat them up, you make stupid little comments, you oh, you're you're the typical car salesman.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: That stuff doesn't work for you.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: Like they don't want to help you.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: And one of the most common things, and I say it all the time, is I fire customers.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: And dealerships will fire you.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: And their way of firing you is they give you a number where if you say yes, they win.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: Right.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: They don't want to lose$2,000 to sell you a car.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: So you think that you went to another dealer and oh my god, they quoted me so high.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: No, they didn't want to sell your car.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: You didn't deserve a good deal.
8:01
SPEAKER_01: You you beat them up, you insulted them.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: You it's too much, is exactly that.
8:08
SPEAKER_02: So you walk in wanting everything, not willing to compromise at all, they're not gonna give you something.
8:13
SPEAKER_02: They're not gonna give you a good deal.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: It's you you might trip over it, you might find it, you might find a dealership that has you might want the purple one that you think is amazing and they need to move it, you they may play that game.
8:24
SPEAKER_01: But but eventually it's enough's enough.
8:27
SPEAKER_02: Why use you as a broker rather than going directly to a car dealership?
8:31
SPEAKER_02: Because when I've mentioned in on Facebook and all the mom groups, and I'll say, go to Mike, he's fantastic.
8:37
SPEAKER_02: People are like, oh, don't use a broker, go directly to a dealership.
8:40
SPEAKER_02: Why?
8:41
SPEAKER_02: What's the misconception?
8:43
SPEAKER_01: It's actually the opposite.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: Most people don't want to go to the dealer, they want to go to the broker.
8:48
SPEAKER_01: The people that want to go to the dealer, I actually tell some of the clients, they're not my clientele.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: That's a customer that wants to fight with you over every dollar, over every penny, over every cent.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: And that's their right.
9:00
SPEAKER_01: They they can.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: God bless you.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: I will never tell you you cannot do what I do.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: Anyone can do what I do, especially after you talk to me and I tell you what you should pay.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: Someone will save you three dollars.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to spend eight hours at the dealership?
9:14
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to lose your Saturday?
9:15
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to find out something wasn't included?
9:18
SPEAKER_01: Do you value having the car brought to your door?
9:20
SPEAKER_01: It's a service.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: They won't they don't understand why my price might be the same as the dealer or five dollars more, or sometimes I'm$25,$30,$100 cheaper.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: But you'll pay you'll you'll pay$37 for a number seven supersized because the guy brings you the McDonald's to your door through Uber Eats.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: So you pay$20 extra dollars for your dinner, but you won't pay a couple extra dollars to have the second biggest purchase in your life brought to your door, the numbers explained, everything laid out, no games and a happy experience.
9:49
SPEAKER_02: You know, I get all the time from prospective clients, I'm a workers' comp attorney, and they'll ask me, Oh, do I need an attorney?
9:55
SPEAKER_02: Um, no, you don't need an attorney.
9:57
SPEAKER_02: You also don't need a mechanic to fix your car, you don't need a barber to cut your hair.
10:01
SPEAKER_02: Like you can do it alone, but you're not gonna do it as well as I can do it.
10:06
SPEAKER_02: And I guess it's the same thing for the cars.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: It's it's one of you you will not do, like I said, I'll never tell you you can't do what I do.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: You can't you can't do what I do.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: What I tell them is you cannot do what I do as fast as I do it, as quickly as I do it, and as happy as I do it.
10:19
SPEAKER_02: It was the easiest process.
10:20
SPEAKER_02: And also, the car you got us into is not a car I would have looked at before.
10:26
SPEAKER_02: So let me ask you a question.
10:27
SPEAKER_02: Right now, 2026, end of the summer, what is the best deal out there right now?
10:34
SPEAKER_01: If you can find one and you like it, a Pathfinder is an amazing transaction, a Volkswagen Atlas is an amazing transaction.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: Um biggest grievances, the Atlas is changing its body style for 2027.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: Great.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: You want to pay$800 next year or do you want to pay$575 this year?
10:54
SPEAKER_01: Everything goes out of style.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: It's budget, it's value.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: Some people, you know, some people the best deal is what they want.
11:01
SPEAKER_01: And that's what I was just saying out there.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: If you don't like the car, it's not the best deal.
11:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:06
SPEAKER_02: Most overrated car.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: Same conversation.
11:11
SPEAKER_01: BMW and Mercedes.
11:13
SPEAKER_02: Really?
11:13
SPEAKER_01: I hate them.
11:14
SPEAKER_02: Okay, why?
11:16
SPEAKER_01: Too many features, too many options, they're overpriced.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: It's it's I I think it's also because everybody that drives the BMW, they go bah and they don't know how to drive, and they just piss me off.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: So I don't like the people.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: Car that they discontinued that you wish they would bring back?
11:34
SPEAKER_01: Nissan Xtera.
11:35
SPEAKER_02: Okay, why?
11:37
SPEAKER_01: I hate the Bronco, um, but people love it.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: The Wranglers are everywhere, played out.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: Honda came out with a passport, complete flop.
11:47
SPEAKER_01: That Xtera in the day I started at Nissan when I started selling cars, an Xtera is a fun, cool, boy truck.
11:55
SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: Girls can do it too.
11:58
SPEAKER_02: This is a question I see most often on the Facebook mom's group.
12:01
SPEAKER_02: You ready?
12:03
SPEAKER_02: I need a car with three rows.
12:05
SPEAKER_02: What's the best bang for my buck?
12:10
SPEAKER_01: That's again, if you need a car with three rows, it means you have lots of little critters running around.
12:15
SPEAKER_02: Well, big critters.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: Big critters, little critters, other people's critters.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: Um, the best bang for your buck is the one that meets your needs.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: Some cars have bench seat, you need captains, some cars are smaller but have three rows, some cars are bigger.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: It comes down to your need.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: But again, dollars and cents.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: If you can go into an Infinity QX 60, 62,000,$67,000 truck, budget of a$50,000 truck.
12:40
SPEAKER_02: I hated that truck.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: People do hate it.
12:43
SPEAKER_02: I hated it.
12:44
SPEAKER_02: We had it for like three years and we couldn't wait to get rid of it.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: And that comes back to why that question that they ask is my pet peeve.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: What's the best deal?
12:54
SPEAKER_01: What's the best value?
12:55
SPEAKER_02: Depends on the person.
12:56
SPEAKER_02: Correct.
12:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: The best deal is the car you want.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: Hands down, if you don't like it, no price makes sense.
13:02
SPEAKER_02: What feature uh in some of these newer cars do you think is a complete flop?
13:08
SPEAKER_01: All this self-driving.
13:10
SPEAKER_02: Really?
13:11
SPEAKER_01: Self-driving, nobody cares about it, no one knows how to use it, it doesn't work.
13:16
SPEAKER_01: If you use it, God bless you, I wouldn't trust it.
13:20
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I read that in Texas, if you get one of these self-driving Teslas and you you have the uh you have the mode that allows you to self-drive, it's some of the cheapest insurance in the country right now.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: Till it hits somebody.
13:40
SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
13:41
SPEAKER_02: You know, listen, as a lawyer, I'm skeptical about these things too, but it's it's a little fascinating.
13:46
SPEAKER_02: Would I be comfortable with my husband sleeping in the driver's seat while we go on a family trip?
13:52
SPEAKER_02: No.
13:52
SPEAKER_02: I was going a different rate.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say, am I allowed to go out drinking to the bar and have it drive me home?
13:57
SPEAKER_02: Right.
13:58
SPEAKER_02: That I I it's gonna create a uh a slippery slope.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: So if if it if it's supposed to be that good and better than me, I should be able to sit in the passenger seat.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: Um, okay.
14:09
SPEAKER_02: I have another question for you.
14:11
SPEAKER_02: You have created everything auto, you've made it very successful.
14:15
SPEAKER_01: Me and my partner, Joey.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: You and your partner, Joey.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: Tell me about Joey.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: Joey is my complete opposite.
14:21
SPEAKER_02: Uh the yin to your yang.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: Joey is my complete opposite.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we started selling cars the same day at the same dealership.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: That's how I met him.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: Everything in life with me and Joey is completely different.
14:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's why we get along absolutely amazing.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: Joey is the calm to the storm.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: Joey is the the logic behind the irrationality.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: Joey is the man.
14:47
SPEAKER_02: All right.
14:47
SPEAKER_02: And when did you guys open Everything Auto?
14:50
SPEAKER_01: Joey opened it probably now 10 or 11 years.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: And I've been with him eight or nine.
14:56
SPEAKER_02: Very nice.
14:57
SPEAKER_02: And what do you think makes it successful?
15:00
SPEAKER_01: It's just cut and dry.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, we we we tell what it is, we we say what we think, and if it's it's if I'm not your cup of tea, I'll give you to Joey.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: If Joey's not your cup of tea, no one likes you.
15:13
SPEAKER_02: All right, you told me in your questionnaire that you're confident.
15:17
SPEAKER_02: You present confidently.
15:18
SPEAKER_02: Where does the confidence come from?
15:21
SPEAKER_01: I truly believe I'm the best in this business that there ever was.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: So it it comes it comes from what you are.
15:27
SPEAKER_02: Experience.
15:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, all right.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: I've done it all, I've mastered it all, I fell down from it all, yeah, and I'm back bigger and better from it all.
15:34
SPEAKER_02: Did you actually tell your boss to fire you?
15:36
SPEAKER_01: One million percent.
15:37
SPEAKER_02: And he fired you?
15:38
SPEAKER_01: One million percent.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
15:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:40
SPEAKER_02: So that is like the perfect example of one door closing and another slamming wide open, right?
15:45
SPEAKER_01: I used to keep a box under my desk.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: Ready to go.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: In the car business, you're only as good as your last three minutes.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: So I used to keep a box under my desk at any point in time because there's nothing funnier when someone doesn't know they're getting fired and they're scrambling for their stuff.
15:59
SPEAKER_01: So even when I was at the top, there was always a box big enough to fit my whole desk.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: I would put it on the desk.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: As they started talking things I didn't like, I'd put stuff in the box.
16:10
SPEAKER_02: In the box.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: And if I I would tell them, if it if it gets to my monitor goes in that box, I'm gone.
16:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: So that's just again, comes down to confidence.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: I'll go every time I got fired, I went on to something bigger and better.
16:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: And now here we are.
16:26
SPEAKER_02: You're doing what you love.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: We do it, we do it on our terms, our way, when we want, how we want.
16:31
SPEAKER_02: What is your biggest source of uh new clients?
16:36
SPEAKER_01: It's all Facebook and referrals.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: We do not advertise one bit.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: We do not spend one cent on advertising.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: I won't do it.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: I do Massapequa baseball teams, we do softball teams, we do charity events.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: None of that is designed for advertising.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: That is designed to give back to the community that we make our livings off of.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: If I get business out of it, home run.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: I think it has our most of the advertising, it has our website.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: Website hasn't been updated since 2018.
17:08
SPEAKER_02: It's time to update the website.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: Our website got hacked this week.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: That's another funny story.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: If you want to talk about what we're releasing are definitely not legal.
17:17
SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
17:18
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so we're not going to talk about the stuff.
17:19
SPEAKER_02: We're not going to talk about that, but we got hacked.
17:21
SPEAKER_02: We gotta get that fixed.
17:22
SPEAKER_02: It's fixed.
17:22
SPEAKER_02: Okay, we just had to buy a whole new website this week.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: All right.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: But that's a whole nother funny story.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: So I would say you probably get the bulk of your clients from other clients, right?
17:33
SPEAKER_02: The moms, the referrals, all of that.
17:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: 100%.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: Facebook referrals.
17:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:38
SPEAKER_02: So if somebody wanted to get in touch with you, what is the best way to get in touch with everything, auto?
17:44
SPEAKER_01: Best way to get in touch with me is my cell phone.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: It's my personal cell, it's my business phone, it's my client phone, it's my lifeline.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: 631-598-9446.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: You can shoot me a text.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: If you work nights, text me at 4 a.m.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: You'll have your answer at 6 30 when I wake up.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: He's not kidding.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: He's like really not kidding.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: I have I it's it's OCD, ADD, whatever you want to call it.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: I cannot see a notification on my phone.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: It has to be answered.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: I will answer.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: You can text me and think you're going to bed.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: You're getting a text back at 1 a.m.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: If I get up to go get a drink of water and I see it.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: It'll be there when you wake up.
18:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I I love that because you know that your answer your your text isn't going out into a void, you're actually responding.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: Okay, before we move on to the fun stuff, I have one more question for you.
18:28
SPEAKER_02: So during COVID, when we lived in a cray cray world and kids were missing parties and birthdays, and we we had a little car parade for my daughter at the time as well.
18:39
SPEAKER_02: What did you do?
18:40
SPEAKER_02: What was this uh what was this parade thing that you started?
18:45
SPEAKER_01: It was a blast.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: Um that was just spiraled out of control.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, it started with a friend of mine asking for a few cars to go to his uh kid's birthday party.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: Made the post online.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: 150, 200 cars showed up.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
19:03
SPEAKER_01: Next day, a million inquiries from the videos that they posted on my Facebook.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: News channels reached out.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: Somebody said, make a make a Facebook page.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: Inside of a week, 5,000 followers, an average of three, four, five hundred cars on a weekend.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: Seven parades a day, donations, gifts, money piled in.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Every kid got a gift, a bag.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: The drivers got gas cards, details to keep their cars clean for the people that came.
19:36
SPEAKER_01: It just it just piled in.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: A bunch of uh great people, great friends that I now are more like my family than than friends from before that.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: Um talk to them all the time.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: It's it was amazing.
19:49
SPEAKER_01: It was just a blast.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: And how long did you do this for?
19:52
SPEAKER_01: My Viper started that.
19:53
SPEAKER_01: It was 2016 custom-built Viper, the green Viper that everyone knows.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: Um had probably 3,000 miles on it.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: I finished that from March when they shut down.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: Till probably August, September.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: Umte miles, 10,000 miles.
20:13
SPEAKER_02: You did a lot of parades.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: It was it started at 11 and it didn't end until 7:30 at night.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: Every day, every week, routes, plotting, different locations.
20:24
SPEAKER_01: It got to a point where we had a Suffolk crew and a Nassau crew.
20:27
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: Insane.
20:28
SPEAKER_02: You made a lot of kids happy.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: That's that's when the the smiles became that that changed my perspective of of things and how you should do business, how you should live, how you should just take it all in.
20:43
SPEAKER_02: You're not a typical car guy.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: I think that that's another, it's like a biker reputation where they say uh, you know, bikers aren't what they perceive.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: Most car people have the biggest hearts, and it showed.
20:56
SPEAKER_02: Alright, well, how do you think you're gonna do it playing some games?
20:58
SPEAKER_01: Let's rock.
20:59
SPEAKER_02: All right, you gotta grab those paddles, all three of them.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm a winner, I told you that.
21:03
SPEAKER_02: All right, well, there's no losers here.
21:05
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna give you a topic.
21:06
SPEAKER_02: We'll go rapid fire.
21:08
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna hold up love if you love it, laugh if it's funny, and law if you hate it, right?
21:13
SPEAKER_02: You got a story, you can share it, but you don't have to.
21:16
SPEAKER_02: You ready?
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
21:17
SPEAKER_02: Shopping carts left anywhere.
21:20
SPEAKER_02: You hate it because they hit our cars, right?
21:23
SPEAKER_01: It's just pure laziness.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: And to a guy that's up every day at 6 30 in the gym routine, put your cart away.
21:31
SPEAKER_02: Leaving a voicemail?
21:36
SPEAKER_01: I kind of laugh at them.
21:37
SPEAKER_02: It's like old school, like an answering machine.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: I don't read them, I delete them, I call you back or I text you, what do you need?
21:42
SPEAKER_02: We were talking yesterday, my husband and I, when my grandmother used to call my phone and leave a voicemail, she still thought it was like an answering machine where you could hear it, and she would go, Pick up the phone, pick up the phone, and didn't realize that like nobody was seeing it.
21:57
SPEAKER_02: But that was a long time ago.
21:59
SPEAKER_02: All right.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: Knowing somebody's order by heart.
22:02
SPEAKER_02: Like knowing what your wife wants, knowing exactly what your daughter wants without asking.
22:07
SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah, I love that too.
22:09
SPEAKER_02: Hotel robes.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: I don't have an answer.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: I've never even put one on.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: Dave skew me out.
22:16
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's funny because when you go to like a nice hotel and they have the robes, you're like, oh, fancy robes, and then you realize, wait a minute, somebody else wore that like yesterday.
22:24
SPEAKER_02: It's a little gross.
22:25
SPEAKER_01: If I got to take the robe home, different story.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
22:28
SPEAKER_02: Food trucks.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: Alright, favorite one.
22:32
SPEAKER_02: What do you like?
22:33
SPEAKER_01: Halal.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: Really?
22:34
SPEAKER_02: What do you what do you order?
22:36
SPEAKER_01: Just the meat, the white, the land, the whatever they're cutting off that processed kebab.
22:43
SPEAKER_02: You like it.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: Fill it up with the rice.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: Cover it with the white stuff.
22:46
SPEAKER_01: You like it.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: Alright, alright.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: I'll give you one more.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: You ready?
22:50
SPEAKER_02: Watching the next episode alone.
22:54
SPEAKER_02: Like you have a show you watch with your wife, and you're cheating.
22:57
SPEAKER_02: You're watching the next one without her.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna laugh at that one.
23:03
SPEAKER_02: Alright, because you know you do it.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: I do it, and I actually do it as a favor to her because she hates everything I watch.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: What are you watching?
23:10
SPEAKER_01: I watch stupid stuff.
23:12
SPEAKER_02: Alright, right now, what are you watching?
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Right now?
23:15
SPEAKER_01: I don't watch any series, but I watch the stupidest show on the planet, The Curse of Oak Island.
23:20
SPEAKER_02: I don't know that one.
23:21
SPEAKER_02: You don't know that one.
23:22
SPEAKER_02: The Curse of Oak Island, but it's stupid.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: I think it's hilarious.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: Alright, alright.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: It's a they're looking for treasure on an island up in Canada that they've been looking for treasure for probably 200 years.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: And nothing of if research it, nothing about it makes sense.
23:38
SPEAKER_01: It's just it's a rabbit hole.
23:40
SPEAKER_02: What's your wife's name?
23:41
SPEAKER_01: Diana.
23:42
SPEAKER_02: Diana, I'm with you on this one.
23:44
SPEAKER_02: It sounds stupid.
23:45
SPEAKER_02: Alright, you ready?
23:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm not allowed to watch the good shows with her and my daughter because I asked too many questions.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: So why what does your wife watch?
23:53
SPEAKER_01: What are they watching right now?
23:54
SPEAKER_01: From.
23:55
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I don't know that one.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: But I'm sure I would like it more than your Oak Island show.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: It's some show where people just disappear and end up in a town somewhere.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: And it's what's that show with the plane that disappeared?
24:07
SPEAKER_02: Oh, like Manifest?
24:09
SPEAKER_01: It's it's a different type of version of that's what I said, and I got yelled at.
24:12
SPEAKER_02: It's nothing like Manifest.
24:13
SPEAKER_02: It's everything like Manifest.
24:14
SPEAKER_02: I might have to watch because I love Manifest.
24:16
SPEAKER_02: So we'll check it out.
24:17
SPEAKER_02: It's interesting.
24:18
SPEAKER_02: Alright, I'll take these back, and now we're gonna go on to the next one.
24:21
SPEAKER_02: Capsule confessions.
24:23
SPEAKER_02: You're going to.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: There's a quarter in there for you.
24:25
SPEAKER_02: We we cheated a little bit.
24:26
SPEAKER_02: Cheated.
24:27
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna jiggle, you're gonna get a capsule out, get a question, and read it to us.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: I wish it was one of those slime hands that you slap around.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, like get stuck to the wall.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: What do we got here?
24:38
SPEAKER_02: Alright, I don't know.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: Read it out loud?
24:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: Who has loved you through a difficult chapter of your life?
24:47
SPEAKER_02: You got a mushy one.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be my wife.
24:51
SPEAKER_02: Alright, shout out to Diana.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: That's my wife.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: She's a she's uh she's a real one.
24:58
SPEAKER_02: Alright, that's a good one.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: I like it.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: Nice and simple.
25:00
SPEAKER_02: Alright, I'll take that.
25:01
SPEAKER_02: You do another one.
25:02
SPEAKER_02: Now this time you gotta put in your own.
25:04
SPEAKER_02: You gotta put it in my quarter.
25:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
25:05
SPEAKER_02: Let's see.
25:07
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that was easy.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: That was a no-brainer.
25:11
SPEAKER_02: That's what he says now.
25:12
SPEAKER_02: Let's see what happens when he gets in the car.
25:13
SPEAKER_02: That's what I'm saying.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: That's that was the layup.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: That means these ones are gonna be the good ones.
25:18
SPEAKER_01: What do we got here?
25:19
SPEAKER_01: What pe what piece of career advice would you offer the 15-year-old version of you?
25:24
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a good question, too.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: Me and my wife just had this conversation also.
25:30
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
25:30
SPEAKER_01: Because this week I I bought my 15-year-old dream car.
25:35
SPEAKER_02: What did you buy?
25:37
SPEAKER_01: 2026 Lamborghini Revolto.
25:39
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
25:40
SPEAKER_01: So the one that the doors go up for all the kids.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: It's that was on every kid's wall.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: That's every kid's dream.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: I think that's every adult man's dream.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: And uh I was fortunate enough to make it come true.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: And uh to the 15-year-old guy, I'm just gonna tell him all your stupid little quirks will pay off.
26:00
SPEAKER_02: That's good.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: That's good advice.
26:02
SPEAKER_02: Be exactly who you are, and it it'll it'll pay off.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: 100%.
26:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, all right.
26:07
SPEAKER_02: Let's see how you do on the last one.
26:08
SPEAKER_02: You got it.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: We got a green, a pink, and a purple.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: I like it.
26:16
SPEAKER_01: Dun dun dun dun.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: Favorite phone app.
26:22
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a good one.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: I am not a phone person, but anyone that knows me knows I am a Facebook junkie.
26:31
SPEAKER_02: Well, it's a it's important to your business.
26:33
SPEAKER_02: Correct.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: It's I get caught scrolling.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: I find any reason to scroll.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: At at any given time, there's a post that, like you said, what's this?
26:42
SPEAKER_01: Who's that?
26:42
SPEAKER_01: Who's this?
26:44
SPEAKER_01: And if you know me, I'm a workaholic.
26:47
SPEAKER_01: If I miss it, I'd start twitching.
26:50
SPEAKER_02: Now, just to let you know, and you might already know this, your daughter's 16, right?
26:54
SPEAKER_01: 15, 16 on Tuesday.
26:57
SPEAKER_02: Okay, well, happy birthday.
26:59
SPEAKER_02: But she is going to rip you apart that you said Facebook was your favorite phone app because that is the old people app.
27:05
SPEAKER_02: Just so you know.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: I need Snapchat.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: I need I don't even know what a what a thread is.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: I think it's a thread or a real I don't know.
27:13
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: I'm already old and yeah, join the club.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: It's all good.
27:17
SPEAKER_02: Alright, you did very well.
27:18
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you did pretty well with that.
27:21
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna move on to our last game.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: Now, don't look, but I'm gonna pick something up, alright?
27:25
SPEAKER_02: This is our objectively speaking box.
27:28
SPEAKER_02: It is a box of shit.
27:30
SPEAKER_02: It has all kinds of crap in it.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: Alright, I'm gonna shake it up.
27:33
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna pull something out.
27:34
SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna look.
27:36
SPEAKER_02: Alright.
27:36
SPEAKER_02: Put your hands in, yup.
27:38
SPEAKER_02: Pull something out.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: Oh Jesus.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: I got a canister or something.
27:43
SPEAKER_02: What'd you get?
27:45
SPEAKER_01: Elmer's glue.
27:48
SPEAKER_02: I think it's blueberry Elmer's glue.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: And that's probably because I probably ate a few tubs of these in my day.
27:54
SPEAKER_02: Alright, well, here's your task.
27:55
SPEAKER_02: You ready?
27:56
SPEAKER_02: Sell it to me.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: Sell you this glue?
27:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're a car guy.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: Sell me the glue.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to sell you the glue.
28:02
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
28:03
SPEAKER_01: It's my glue.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're keeping the glue?
28:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:06
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's the first person to ever do that, but okay.
28:08
SPEAKER_02: No, I don't want it.
28:09
SPEAKER_02: You can't sell it to me.
28:10
SPEAKER_02: I don't really want it.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: I thought I had you there.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: No.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
28:13
SPEAKER_02: No, you were doing the you couldn't have it.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: You were something to plug into.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't do it.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: I thought you were getting mad I wouldn't sell you the glue.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: No.
28:22
SPEAKER_02: Now I want it.
28:23
SPEAKER_02: Now I can't get that.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: The best way to tell something.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: There's no better way than to take something away from somebody to sell it to them.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: I truly believe it.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: When if you tell someone there's 47 white ones, they don't gotta make a decision.
28:35
SPEAKER_02: Oh, but there's only one white one.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: There's one white one and there's a deposit on it, but I think I can get it for you.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: You want that white one.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: I want the glue.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: It's mine.
28:44
SPEAKER_02: I lost my glue.
28:45
SPEAKER_02: You did, you did.
28:46
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
28:47
SPEAKER_02: You gotta sign that token for me.
28:49
SPEAKER_02: We keep track of everybody that comes to visit us on Laugh Love Law.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: Where are we going?
28:53
SPEAKER_02: I think the Sharpie will work.
28:54
SPEAKER_02: The Sharpie will work better than that.
29:00
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna give you a nice Laugh Love Law hoodie.
29:03
SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
29:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be kidnapped as soon as I get home.
29:07
SPEAKER_01: Your daughter's taking.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: One million percent.
29:08
SPEAKER_02: But it's all good.
29:09
SPEAKER_02: I want to thank you for joining us.
29:10
SPEAKER_02: This was different and fun, and I seriously I don't recommend things that I don't believe in myself.
29:16
SPEAKER_02: You need a car?
29:17
SPEAKER_02: Call this guy.
29:18
SPEAKER_02: Seriously.
29:18
SPEAKER_02: He's the best.
29:19
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for being here, Mike.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
29:22
SPEAKER_02: And thanks everybody for watching.