Latest / WCHS Network Podcasts / 06/05/2024 Ask the Expert with Larry Dawson and Chase Barton

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06/05/2024 Ask the Expert with Larry Dawson and Chase Barton · WCHS Network Podcasts

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it's employees or WVRC Media and I I plus a good morning to you.
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You're listening to ask the Export w c HS the Voice of Charleston. I'm
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Del Cooper. Thanks for tuning in one of this Wednesday morning we have.
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Now I don't know about you. I woke up this morning, you know,
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dressed for warm weather. Came outside. It was a little overcast,
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so I knew it was a little overcast to start things off. And then
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I step outside and it's that first morning that we've had really that it was
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soup. Like the moment that I step outside, you could feel that humidity
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hit you like a wall man. It is humid outside right now. The
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humilities years that time of year it is, and it's okay. I mean,
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it's just we're look I like warm weather and it's not a problem.
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It's just that first couple of mornings when you walk outside and you're used to
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kind of the crisp morning air and instead you get hit by, you know,
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a ton of hot water. Basically, it's a little bit different.
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That voice that you hear, of course, that is Larry Dawson from Larry
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Dawson's Auto or previously from Larry Dawson's Auto Cells. I meant to say,
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And we have another special show for us today. We're we're integrating, of
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course with Steven's Auto, and Chase has joined us again here this morning,
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and we're gonna have a good, good discussion. I think. Yes,
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I'm glad to have Chaser. We tried to get him last week. Chase
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cut behind our track traffic reporting. Your check is waiting at the front desk,
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by the way, for the stringer of work on traffic. We appreciate
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it. You talked to my wife. I'm cheap and easy, so that's
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good stuff. How you doing with Thanks for coming back in, Thanks for
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having me. Glad to be here, glad to not be sitting in traffic
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on I sixty four North for an hour and a half like I did last
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Wednesday. So uneventful trip up the turnpike and happy to be here with you,
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Dale and Larry. That's Chase Martin from Stevens Auto Group and we're gonna
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be talking a lot this morning about the industry and the things that are still
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going on, of course with Stevens Auto and Nitro at the familiar location that
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you know at four eighteen First Avenue South and Nitro West Virginia for Stevens Auto
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Group. Larry, what's been going on with you? How are you transitioning
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into the summertime now in your semi advisor retirement deal. Well, it's been
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good. I think that the transition for me, I've told people I just
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went from a job to a hobby. I'm kind of doing the same thing
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at a really locate pace and I still get a few people calling here and
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there, But you know, all in all, I look back and congratulations
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to Chase and Richard coming there and I get to see I don't get to
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see Chase as much as I see the staff, but you know that the
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sign has changed, but not much has changed businesses. It seems to be
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really good in Nitro, and we just had an election. By the way,
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Chase, we re elected the mayor. Case Boat congratulate Dave. This
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is his fourth term and Rich highly congratulations. Rich Rich is going to be
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our new city recorder. And we had three I think three city councils re
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elected, so not much is going to change this re election. But Nitro's
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on the growth. I saw them down the piece of land that we were
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involved in purchasing down next to the grocery store. There is something coming out.
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The purchaser has not told us what's new coming. I actually think it's
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two businesses. But they're moving the sewer line. So we're going to have,
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probably in the next few months, be able to announce what that's going
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to be. Which Nitro is really on the move. We have a very
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aggressive mayor and he welcomes people in. We have land of being developed and
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you go to most towns, small towns, you don't see that. You
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see rebuilding of old buildings. But in Nitro, we took the steps to
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who purchased the buildings and tore the buildings down. That's been an only wind
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process for some time. It was a really canny strategy, kind of like
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Lazarus. You know you're going to come back out of the ice. And
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then Chase and Richard came in in January, and you know, it's once
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again. I had that for thirty seven years and they're there and it's the
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same deal and a savement a lot of the same employees we have. And
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I can't talk much that much about how much I really like Jody Johnson.
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I'm telling you he's just a great guy. And that's what I've said this
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many weeks. If you come by, you're going to see a friendly face.
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His name's Jody, And I'm telling you, Jody will stick his hand
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out, he'll talk to you, and he's just you. You knocked it
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out park when you got Jody. Yeah, we were blessed to have him.
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And that's what I get. The question I get from a lot of
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peoples. They say, he, how do you do what you're doing?
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And I say, because got a lot of great people. I mean,
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that's that's what it takes to as we've grown to make all these ships float
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and row in the right direction. You got to have have the right leaders
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telling people what to do and how to do it, and you know,
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being there to show him and that's what Jody does a great job. All
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of our management does a great job. But you're right, if you come
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into Nitro, you're gonna see Jody and Larry and Ray and Chris and Donnie
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are still back there, you know, keeping keeping the cars running and clean
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and man, it's just it's a great staff we have there in Nitro.
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Yeah, Donnie's like I said to man, I have. I think Donnie
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and I is together twenty four or five years. He's just the one.
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And Chris is the same way I would. Chris is wearing his lunch break
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yesterday and we'll talk farms. Is his father in laws go to farm.
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I go to farm and we talk farms. And he's much more knowledgeable than
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farms than me. And animals and turkey season and all that. I just
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kind of I'm the by standard. I just look and joined in the conversation
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because I can't leave it. But your other stores, that tell them where
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all the other stores are located, so are as. Richard Stevens affectionately says,
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the world headquarters of Stevens Automotive Group is in Boone County and Danville,
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West Virginia. That's our Ford christ for Dodge Jeep Brahm store. That store
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has been around since nineteen thirty four. That's that's our oldest store. Mitsubishi
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stores in Princeton right off of Interstate seventy seven and four sixty. Our Chevy
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store is in o'keeell, and then we have a pre owned store in Beckley.
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We have a pre owned store in Somersville, the pre owned store in
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Nitro, and then we have two buying centers Auto Buyers of West Virginia,
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where the service we provide there is just to give you an appraisal on your
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car, make an offer to purchase, no pressure, no gimmicks. That's
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all we do is buy the cars. We have one of those in Beckley
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and Somersville. Now it's a great it's a great footprint. And the last
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time that you were here, we were still getting used to your coming to
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Nitro as being kind of integration into kind of the new location and things like
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that. You've been there for a little while now, as Larry talks about
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every week when he comes in and just summarize, you know, Nitro has
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made a very nice landing strip for businesses to come in and to set up
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and to do a good job there. I'm curious into now that you're you
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know, we kind of getting your your feet set and established in Nitro and
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looking forward. What's got you excited about what you're gonna be doing over the
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next for twenty twenty four as far as whether it be inventory or something that
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you have in mind or something you're really excited for folks to know about.
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With Stevens, I think I'm excited about all the growth we've had just helps
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you know, activity breeds activity. So we've got all these locations and we
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keep trying to get our management staff of all our stores together so that way
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we try to get everybody on the same page and have a center synergy to
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where they can, you know, if they have a car in Princeton that
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works in Nitro and hey, let's you know, let's trade that car around.
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That's that's going to work better for our customers in the Kenawh Valley than
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it does in you know, in Mercer County. So that that's one thing,
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and just kind of that continuity almost I'm thinking of Larry giving us the
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election results that that continuity is key in anything. So we're very good at
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keeping our staff and keeping a low turnover. So we just want to keep
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keep the same people in place, keep everybody happy, keep our customers happy.
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And you know, it's been I won't say challenging, but with interest
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rates high and sure values dipping on used cars, the business is a little
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a little trickier than it's been the last few years. So if we can
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just keep it, keep everything steady in twenty twenty four, I think I'll
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be very happy. And it's really amazing to be for the automobile industry is
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always changing in some way, shape or form. It seems like you have
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to find a way to keep ahead of the curve a little bit. And
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you guys seem like you've done a great job in getting that together. And
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it's endlessly fascinating to me. And Larry's always giving me great insights into the
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industry from his perspective and from talking about a multiple location perspective. I ran
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a rental car company from one of the large well for enterprise. I don't
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need to pretend. I was a manager for a really large branch in Michigan
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for a long time. We had like I had two satellite offices. We
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had like a total three hundred cars that I ran fleet for or and you
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were mentioning there about moving your inventory around. And although that's not the first
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thing that somebody would think about when they think of a of a dealership,
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you know, they think about the front facing people, the sale staff,
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maybe the service staff, you know, the people that they talked to there.
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Managing your fleet and making sure the rate cars are in the right location.
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That's actually a really important part of your business and how you do things,
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and when it comes to servicing your customers and giving your seale staff the
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best leg up to move the inventory. It is little. Logistics is a
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big part of what we do as we've grown, and I've got I kind
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of pick what goes where, and some of the managers at the locations have
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some say in that too. But we've got one guy that he actually just
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came to me last week and he's like, man, I don't know if
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I can keep doing this. He's like, I tell him what to do,
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where to go, and the other managers you know, will call and
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say, hey, I sold a car and needs delivered to or wherever.
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So he's he's managing all these all these drivers that we have that drive for
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us, and he's like, man, he said, I'm he's I spend
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more time on the phone trying to figure out who's available, who can go
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where, than I do actually driving cars anymore. So yeah, so he's
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almost like our I can get that. I can Yeah, and it's a
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nice you know, I had I knew that, like I knew, I
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know what he's doing, but I hadn't stopped and thought about it. So
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we're kind of talking with Kevin, because Kevin Gillaspie's man. He takes the
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weight off my shoulders. He manages all these guys, tells him where to
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go, make sure they've got a chase car. That's they're dripping something off,
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you know. So that's uh, that's big. And now Gary Blackburn's
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come into the World headquarters in Danville and has started doing pick up and delivery
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for our customers on service. That's another logistics thing. Absolutely got cars then
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he picked up here, got a car that needs to go back there.
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So you know, there is like you say, you see you see salespeople,
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you see management, you may see a service advisor when you bring your
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car in, but you don't see all the all the you know, it's
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almost like the underground. We just came back from Disney. You don't see
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what's actually going on to make everything, yeah, go as smoothly as it's
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incredible. I mean just just simply managing your fleet. You're talking about arranging
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your chasing stuff like that. I mean, it's manpower to deliver a car
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because it's yeah, you got to have all those game you can't do it
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remotely or anything. You've got to have a human to get in that car
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and drive it to ok kill or drive it to day. If you're delivering
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a car, you need the person to bring them back. If you're if
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if you're picking a car up, you need a person to drop them off.
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I mean there's' there's no single way to do that. And man,
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that's that's like half the game, right there, is managing your resources so
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somebody's like stranded, somebody somewhere too long or whatever it might be. The
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automobile business, the inventor of the commodity which is involved is a It's not
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an easy move. It's not too you know. In my day, before
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uh the multiple multiple story locations came available, I was taught by the Whites
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City and Cowboy and Paul how we moved our inventory was rearranged a lot,
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but it worked. But the chase does. He re arranges locations. He
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has a bigger lot. The year. The years that I learned in the
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automobile business, we've got there once a week. We called it a lot
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party, simply moving the inventory on your lot. Because you think about this,
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If you have a person that's normally driving in your area, it's it's
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where they're going and where they're coming. It's a repetitious drive. You take
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that inventory and you move the trucks from the front road to the bike row
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and move this car over here. They may not see that car, and
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then you have moved your inventory. Now in chases, they'll move it location
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from county to county to county. Well, you know what would be in
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the older days that we you know, most dealerships was just one lot and
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so there was nowhere to move it other than in your location. But that
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theory worked then. It still works now. Yes, we've got some locations
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that are better at that than others. But we have another Kevin, Kevin
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Richardson that works in Beckley and he you know, you don't even have to
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help him because he wants to do it himself. But he does a great
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job of displaying the vehicle for sale, and he moves them a lot.
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I'll get a cofference to mind says, hey, I drove by your Beckley
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lot and you got this pink wrangler and I'm interested in it. Where did
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you get it? And I'm thinking, to my mind, we've had that
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thing about it, but yeah, well we'll make it happen. Still the
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produce department or the meat department. And before we really had the big supermarket
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chains, they were merchandisers. You know, most butchers that you'll talk to
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if they're still with us, you know that back when they had the small
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grocery stores, they would go in about four in the morning and put the
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display out of the meat and the produce because the housewife would come in after
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the kids went off to school, and that was their display. And actually,
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if butcher kind of told me there, I won't say tricks, but
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they're how they did their inventory because meat will get old, you know,
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so you might want to shove it and shove it to the front and put
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the discount on it. Same analogy. I mean, we don't rot,
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we chases. I'm sure he's heard this word lot rot, and yes,
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in an automobile that's set there, especially during the winter the summertime that you
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know, we have to pull the cars in and sometimes freshen them up and
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redress the tires and maybe sweep them out where they've been testro But I mean,
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the analogy's the same, and moving inventory is so very very important.
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And once again with having multiple locations, they have the luxury of moving from
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county to county. You know, one of the things that really strikes me
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about the car industry right now, we have all these ancillary things that have
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come up over the last few decades. And again this is something that if
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you take any thirty year period of the automobile industry, this narrative is the
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same, just the technology is different. So now we're talking about the highest
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technology we have now, and you have all kinds of different things. You
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have things that will help you drive the car. You have things that will
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warn you when you're switching lanes if there's something in your way, when you're
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bicking up and it's going to tell you. You have all kinds of smart
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integrations into your dash and things like that. Different people have different commentary when
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it comes to the integration to the technology. That's not really what I want
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to talk about. The thing that amazes me, and the thing that I
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think that we forget sometimes is when I was growing up, and when I
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was younger, the the six digit mileage, when your vehicle was typically like
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that was like, well, I have one hundred thousand miles on the car.
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Now, it's about time to trade it in and get a new one,
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or whatever it might be. Our vehicles people don't really realize this because
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you know, they're not as metal as they used to be, and the
15:26
engines aren't as big as they used to be, or whatever it be.
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They're actually very durable. These cars last forever now if you take care of
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them, they're very durable. And Larry and I had this conversation on the
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way in the studio. We're, you know, talking about inexpensive vehicles and
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people shopping for you know, maybe a first time. You know, somebody
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just graduated high school looking for their first car, and there's not a lot
15:48
of affordable products out there. But it does have us looking at cars that
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we trade for very more carefully because people are you know, people have a
16:00
budget, and we still need those more affordable vehicles. So we're we're keeping
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vehicles that probably five or six years ago we wouldn't have thought about keeping.
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We still are very picky. We still wholesale quite a bit. We went
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to auction Friday and wholesaled about one hundred and fifteen cars, so we're still
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very picky. So that is one thing I'll say about our group. If
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you see a car on one of our lots that has one hundred and twenty
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or one hundred and thirty thousand miles, it's probably one of the nicest hundred
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and twenty or thirty thousand mile cars around. We just sold up a fifteen
16:29
Silverado with one hundred and thirty thousand miles our Chevy store sold at new We've
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done all the service on it and it was meant so, and it's sold
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quickly because it's a truck that somebody could afford. It was under twenty thousand
16:41
dollars. Yeah, as long as they're to sign that vehicle and your ours
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job is to divet these things out to make sure the previous owners treated them
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right. And if they did, man, I mean, you're getting a
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car that's going to continue to last. Yes, Yeah, and we're super
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picky, you know, I mean a lot of them. If they don't
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pass the eye test, they don't even get the service. You know,
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if I look at it, or one of the managers looks at it and
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it's like, oh man, it's already got a lot of rest on the
17:00
frame, or the rockers are resting, or it's got some damage on it,
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then we you know, we'll we'll kick one right. Then it may
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still be mechanically sound, but it doesn't pass our eye test. We don't
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want we don't want our name on that car. We want to be proud
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of what we put out there for people to purchase. So we're very very
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picky about what we what we resell. That's the right way to be.
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You know, when when COVID hit, it changed merchandising, but I think
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it woke the public up because the lack of cars. There was people that
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was in that trading cycle that it was extended and they thought, you know
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what, this is lasting a little longer. So when one goes shopping to
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look at a car that's got one twenty or one thirty on it, they've
17:44
had experience with that. Mallets now and every every year it's being exceeded.
17:49
I mean, as we drive these cars longer and put more mouths on them
17:53
and realize that they will go that when they go out shopping for the second
17:59
car. Were coming up on out of school time looking for the junior,
18:03
the Messia car, you know, to go in and look at a card
18:07
one twenty or one thirty even more mileage. You go back one decade,
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you didn't have a chance, Oh easily. I remember. I remember looking
18:15
at those cars when I was like, you know, younger and was maybe
18:18
looking at getting different cars. Like maybe I had a main like when I
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first got married, for example, and I was in my late twenties,
18:26
you know, I had a main car. Maybe looking for a different car,
18:29
whatever it might be. It's amazing that my mindset back then is when
18:32
you were you know, back when you looked at the ads, you know,
18:33
you had the paper that you look through, and you looked at the
18:36
different cars. Like my mind would shut off as soon as I saw like
18:37
something had one hundred and thirty thousand miles or something like that, and I'm
18:41
like, nah, not going to work, you know, cause I didn't
18:42
trust the vehicle, you know, and the price is then you know,
18:45
bottomed out. It was like, hey, this thing has one hundred and
18:48
thirty thousand miles on it. It's such a steep discount. These cars last
18:51
for so long now that's not really an issue anymore. If I was that
18:52
same person looking for vehicles and I ran across a one hundred and ten thousand
18:56
mile Toyota truck or a Ford Ranger or Ranger, how old am I a
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new Ford Explorer or something like that. They did have made a comeback,
19:04
But I am thinking about my sister's little tiny Ford Ranger that she had when
19:08
I was like eleven years old, which was this little tan truck that probably
19:12
isn't as big as as a Sedan. These dag so other things that's available,
19:18
and most dealerships as well as Stevens, I'm sure they're selling a lot
19:23
of extended warranties to protect that consumer and brought to I just got a text
19:29
from friend of mine or was for JMA, And you know that's what they're
19:33
in, a warranty company. And who do you sell wherewith aline high life?
19:37
And these extended warranties are wonderful. I recommend anybody that this purchasing something
19:44
for no more dollars you can avest for the protection. You know, could
19:48
you imagine, Well, I mean you probably would not drive your vehicle from
19:52
Kenas City where you live here uninsured and with these insurance policies, and that's
19:57
basically what they are, that will protect you for those major breakdowns. Yeah,
20:02
I remember that when when I when I worked at Enterprise and we would
20:07
take in folks. You know, most of our service one probably over half
20:11
of our business was replacement vehicles, you know, people that had a car
20:14
that was getting serviced or body shop work or something along those lines, and
20:18
they would bring their vehicle in. But I was always impressed with some of
20:19
the after or with some of the uh additional coverage that folks can get when
20:25
they got their new car. They would cover all sorts of different things where
20:26
I'm including helping them out with rental cars and different things like that. And
20:30
for some reason, there's a mindset out there sometimes I think maybe the retail
20:33
stores maybe have ruined us on extended warranties to some degree because there's this mindset
20:37
that, oh, that's just a you know, an upsell or a junk
20:41
feet or whatever it is. Look at the look at the fine print.
20:42
Man that's not the case at all. I mean, if you fall within
20:45
the realm of what you're getting covered on, they're the coverage is robust.
20:48
I mean, it's good. We've got some coverage with Ally, which that
20:52
that coverage comes from. It used to be GMPP. Uh back I remember
20:57
that, uh back before before all the trouble hitting the financial mail that was
21:02
at the gold Standard, right, it wasn't GMPP like the gold Gender because
21:04
that was with GMAC. GMAC is the one that did that. So once
21:07
the bankruptcy hit, GMAC had to reorganized as a bank which is now Ally
21:11
Bank, they kept that protection plan. It was still branded as General Motors
21:15
for a few years after that, but they kept that product. So it
21:18
is a phenomenal product and as business has changed. Two years ago we started
21:25
anything that's out of factory warranty, we give a complementary three month, three
21:29
thousand mile it's a little better than paratrain covers some air conditioning and things with
21:33
all our vehicles we sell. So that's just to help give customers a peace
21:37
of mind and people don't think about it, but you're right, the coverage
21:41
is very robust and we have their top coverage. It actually has a list
21:45
of what it doesn't cover. It's easier to show, you know, here's
21:48
I've noticed, here's this box of it doesn't cover these things. And people,
21:52
you know, we sell a lot of newer vehicles and I said,
21:55
well, I still have some warranty, so I don't need to buy one.
21:57
Well, that could be true, but it's also like Larry said,
22:02
with insurance. You know, it's cheaper to buy that that insurance now because
22:06
the car is newer with lower miles. You can buy it later after it
22:10
runs out of warranty. But it's looking almost like a person is older and
22:12
you're trying to buy a health or life insurance. Yeah, we'll still we'll
22:15
still write that coverage for you, but it's going to be at a much
22:18
higher premium than if you'd bought it a year or two earlier. And if
22:22
you pay for it by rolling it into finance or whatever, it's really not
22:23
that much at all as far as that like monthly thing goes very very inexpensive.
22:27
It's for for what it could potentially save you, it's well worth it,
22:32
and people also miss that. But with the last few years, if
22:34
you've bought one, then it's also guarded you against all this inflation and rising
22:41
labor rates. You know, labor rates have went from ninety one hundred dollars
22:44
an hour to one hundred and forty fifty. There's not a cap on the
22:47
waver So yeah, carts are more expensive. So if you you know,
22:49
if you bought it three years ago, it doesn't matter what the labor rate
22:52
was, then it's the one point, right, I want to pay for
22:55
the labor rate today. Well, the technology package I sold my younger brother
23:00
of Aolvo, it's one of the high I don't even know what it was,
23:03
and it was very expensive all those as did little brother. You're going
23:07
to buy warranty, and you're going to buy the most expensive techniques warranty because
23:11
there's things in that. This car raises itself and lowers itself. And I
23:15
said, because it's it's outside boxing my expertise. Oh yeah, you're not
23:18
looking at a couple of hundred dollars NW, you're looking at a couple of
23:22
thousands. And at the time, if you if you and a nice thing
23:25
about eyelights, it's kind of like saying a kleenex, you know, there's
23:30
several different ones, but that's the standard. That's and and you know you
23:34
have that protection. Let's do this. We're about quarter until the top of
23:37
the hour. Let's go ahead and take a break right now. You can
23:40
give us a call if you want to. I haven't put the call out
23:41
there a whole lot just because we've been talking here and I want to make
23:44
sure that Chase and Larry had a moment to uh uh to share some insights.
23:48
But if you have any questions about the car industry about maybe you're in
23:51
the market, or you're have any other question along those lines, or you
23:53
know what Larry usually talks about. If you have any questions along those lines
23:56
or comments, you're welcome gives a call this morning. Three's are a four
23:57
three four five fifty to fifty three four five fifty eight fifty eight. We're
24:02
here with asked the expert. Larry Dowson's in the studio with this this morning,
24:04
and also Chase Barton from Steven's Auto in Nitro, West Virginia. You're
24:07
more than welcome to give us a call this morning at three zero four three
24:10
four five fifty fifty. Well, take a break and be back right after
24:11
this. You're listening to ask the expertup. You see hs the Voice of
24:15
Charleston. Hey, it's day valid for Parmar stores and now that the warm
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sign up for the Parmar Rewards card. Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky,
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Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. If there's not a Parmar store near you,
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now there will be center. According to USA Today, one in seven
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children in West Virginia face food in security issues. Hi, I'm Jason Quintrel,
24:52
President and CEO of Union Mission Ministries. There are some obstacles our children
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face with access to food, despite many feet programs available. That is why
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Union Mission has partnered with some local middle schools to place food directly into the
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hands of children who need it. Help us remove those obstacles and help feed
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our kids. Visit Union Mission dot com to learn more. Thought to you
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by City National Bank, where our no down payment mortgage gets you one step
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closer to getting into your dream home for a convenient location near you. Log
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on to bank atcity dot com. Good morning, here's your traffic updates.
25:26
Maintenance on I seventy seven North from mile marker ninety three to mile marker ninety
25:32
three point five. The northbound right lane is closed. That's right before McCorkle
25:37
Avenue. Maintenance on I seventy seven North from mile marker seventy eight to mile
25:41
marker seventy nine. That's right at Sharon and debris in the roadway on I
25:45
seventy seven North at mile marker one oh one at the I seventy seven I
25:49
sixty four splint On Chapel. In the WCCHS Network Traffic Studio book, you're
26:06
listening to us the expert seeing HS voice Darnton. I'mjoing cooperhect we're tuning in
26:10
on this Wednesday morning. I set up at the top of the show Man.
26:12
If you haven't left the house yet, be careful before you open up
26:15
that door. It's human outside. It's like a wall of water when you
26:18
open up the door, so I look out for that. It doesn't cause
26:21
any problems on the roads or anything like that might mess up your hair.
26:23
So you might want to look for your hair. There is gonna be some
26:27
ring, and I know that you care about your hair alive. Oh yeah,
26:30
that's why I wear that high ass. It's the Scout Protector, that's
26:34
right. That voice you hear, that's Larry Dawson, of course from larr
26:37
Dawson's autos Els. You know his Mary. He's been on the gator for
26:40
Stevens. I think I'm having the worst time over to you because I only
26:42
see you. I only see it twice a month. I apologize for that.
26:45
So obviously Larry Dawson is here representing Steven's Auto Group with Chase Barton from
26:49
Steven's Auto Group, and we're talking about he's just the auto industry in general
26:53
this morning, some changes we've seen over the year, some things that we're
26:56
looking at right now. What's it citing about the industry and things that we
27:00
can get in on. You can give us a call this one three zero
27:00
four three four five fifty eight fifty eight. You can steer the conversation anyway
27:03
that you want to at three zero four three four five fifty eight fifty eight.
27:07
You can also text over any questions you have if you'd like three zero
27:08
four non three five five zero zero eight. Three zero four non three five
27:12
five zero zero eight is our text line number. And if you ask me,
27:17
I mean, it's got to be kind of difficult if you're in the
27:21
industry, and obviously you trade in a new car or in used cars quite
27:26
a bit, and previously used cars or previously owned cars quite a bit,
27:30
new cars and things along those lines. The balance between finding the right vehicle
27:34
for miles, we talked about that a minute ago, but then you need
27:37
to find the right vehicle for technology, you know. I wonder, and
27:41
this is just me thinking out loud, if people like in West Virginia generally
27:45
are a little bit more adverse to some of the some of the more technological
27:49
features of the newer models than in other areas. I don't know if that's
27:52
true or not. I just wonder, because when we take calls on some
27:56
of our other shows and stuff, some of the things that are coming in
27:57
some of the newer cars a lot. Not everybody's one hundred percent in one.
28:02
So finding that balance with reaching out to your clients, and you guys
28:03
do a great job of that, finding what it is that they want.
28:07
It's an important purchase. These days, so you want to make sure that
28:10
they're getting the car that they're looking for. Yes, And it seems to
28:14
vary by a class a vehicle, like you know, a pickup truck to
28:18
some people still a pickup truck. As long as it's got power windows and
28:22
air conditioning. Hey we're good, and it's got room in the bike,
28:26
let's do it. And then you've got some of these trucks like Larry and
28:29
I drive that are you know, it's it's like a Cadillac truck, you
28:32
know if the one I'm driving now doesn't have it, but they sold the
28:34
white one I was driving. It had the supercrews the General Motors has now,
28:37
and that truck would drive itself. Could you could hit the button And
28:41
as long as it has a sensor on top of the steering column that detects
28:47
your eyes, so as long as it detects your eyes or on the road,
28:49
you don't have to hold the steering wheel, it'll it'll steer for you,
28:52
it'll change lanes for you. So some people that's important too, but
28:56
not as much. But then you get into like the smaller SHUEV segment that's
29:00
you know, Compass, Equinox, Outlander, and that's where the tech technology
29:06
seems to be more important. Hey, it's got to have a powerlift gate,
29:08
it's got to have blind spot monitors, it's got to have a wireless
29:11
phone charger, it's got to have heated seats, it's got to have a
29:15
remote start. That's where people seem to be more picky about. You know,
29:18
I definitely want all this stuff. We're on maybe a truck. And
29:22
then you have people that are more on a budget that you know, they're
29:26
a little more flexible. But even that, with the new tracks that Chevy
29:29
has out, that's that is a phenomenal package of technology and features for the
29:34
price they've got on that vehicle. It's incredible. Chase Jerry called in a
29:38
couple of weeks ago, and Jerry's in the same decade being born as I
29:45
was. But it do you see of the manufacturers you represent, is there
29:48
a basic car coming for a price point where this has the standard features?
29:55
You know, the technology is great, but there's still the old school that
29:59
wants to turn them. And do you see anything on horizon and in manufacturers
30:03
that you represent, I don't. I think Chevy's is the closest to that.
30:08
Equinox and Tracks and Trailblazer. Chrysler, as we talked about earlier,
30:14
that's probably the brand that seems to be really struggling with. You know,
30:19
they were kind of trying to move up market, and they do have a
30:22
lot of you know, the new Grand Cherokee Phenomenal Ride, the New Ram
30:26
Phenomenal Ride, the Wagoneers Awesome Ride. But you know, there's just only
30:32
a select amount of people that can buy these sixty seventy eighty ninety and then
30:36
you get into Wagoneer and Grand Wagon ear one hundred hundred and ten thousand dollars.
30:40
So I think they're doing some soul searching to say, well are we
30:42
you know that. I think one of them told me, one of the
30:45
reps from Christler said, well, we're trying to figure out if we're a
30:47
mainstream brand or a luxury brand. And I'm like, well, I think
30:49
I think the market's probably going to determine that. For you guys, it's
30:55
just not as Covid went, you know, you could sell anything, So
30:59
everybody's kind of reimagine themselves as a luxury brand. That's just not the case.
31:03
That's you know, there's not free money, there's not two percent interest,
31:06
So everybody buying a luxury vehicle now is kind of out the window.
31:08
We're gonna have to get back to the base. They kind of started that
31:11
with the reinvention of like the three hundred and the charger and all that stuff.
31:17
What was it a decade and a half ago or something like that,
31:18
I think right, And those were sort of high end dish and they were
31:22
really made some high inversions of that, and I think that maybe what happened
31:26
is because of the way economics crushed around COVID and stuff like that, it
31:30
just kind of jettisoned all that stuff, like even because it didn't matter,
31:33
you know, we were getting new vehicles in and didn't matter if it was
31:37
a work truck RAM or if it was a one hundred thousand dollars limited Ram.
31:41
It was sold. So they got to think, and hey, we
31:44
can just we'll make all these vehicles the top trim level and we'll still sell
31:48
like gangbusters and make more money as a manufacturer. Well, now that's not
31:52
the case anymore. We have a call that's come in from Larry from spring
31:55
Hill. Larry has a question and comment that he wants to run past the
31:57
guys this morning, Larry, good morning. Are you doing this morning?
32:00
And what's your question? Right? Good show. I've got a twenty eleven
32:07
escape and the fuel in that that light comes on. I need to do
32:13
anything about that in and I get that checked out and let somebody tell you
32:20
what's going on. You can even probably start with taking it to a local
32:23
AutoZone or Advance. They've got the scanners. They can hook up to the
32:27
onboard diagnostics in your escape and at least tell you what's going on. And
32:30
then those guys have a little knowledge about what may be wrong and can probably
32:35
give you some guidance from there. But it definitely something to get checked out.
32:38
Those lights come on for a reason. Thank you. Oh yes,
32:43
sir, thanks for calling. I appreciate your call. Thanks for calling.
32:45
Anyhow, you got to make sure that you know, you like to think
32:49
that, oh that's probably not gonna be that big of a deal. It's
32:51
just this lay, it's just that later or whatever. You don't know what
32:52
the underpinning reasons are for those things, and you better get it checked out.
32:57
There's multiple lights now exactly there's there and is an older guy that's full
33:02
of these cars. I'm learning that almost daily, you know, because I
33:07
get asked. I still get asked. I mean I was done far mowing
33:12
yesterday evening. Somebody text me said you busied, and I said, well
33:15
mowing, you know, look cold the men. And there's always a car
33:19
question. I said last week Chase that now that I'm really not in the
33:23
automobile business per se in the retail business he used to be, people would
33:29
probably a little hesitant ask me a question because then if they bought somewhere else,
33:32
they you know, they think ask you didn't ask him? Because now
33:36
it doesn't matter. And I am amazed with the questions I get. Ask
33:43
has increased drastically. And that's okay. I work cheap and work free.
33:47
And I just got a text from a national company. It's with jm A.
33:53
Chase knows who they are asking me if I would help them, you
33:58
know, get their foot in the door to the ship. That probably wouldn't
34:00
happen before I retired. Is that is I mean, it's daily, it's
34:05
multiple times a day, and and I can't take this compliment. Sure,
34:09
yeah, I really should. Is that when Chase and I and Richard was
34:14
sitting around, I probably a meeting before we decide to do this or before
34:19
we sign the paperwork. I think I said that. I know I said
34:22
this, and I believe Chase's response was, I said, you know,
34:24
in a few months, nobody will know who Larry Dawson is. You know,
34:28
I'll just he said, no, I don't think so. Yeah,
34:30
I don't think. I don't think there's a chance of that. And that's
34:32
like Dale earlier, you know, saying Larry Dawson's otto says, I don't
34:37
have a problem with that because the name that Larry built for himself and that
34:39
story in Nitro over thirty seven years. Hey, if we can keep some
34:44
of that magic at four eighteen First Avenue will definitely. I had this guy
34:47
pull in Chase over the grab a lot I'm getting ready to pay it,
34:52
but over the warehouse and he was a little confused. He was looking a
34:55
couple of the old cars that was getting ready to sell and he, you
35:00
know, would you price it? And I said, who are you looking
35:02
for? And he said, oh, I'm looking for Larry. You know,
35:05
he's looking right at me. I go. He kind of sat him.
35:08
I retired and he said really and I said, I'm Larry. He
35:13
said, so you quit, and I said, oh no, no,
35:15
I didn't. I said, go right out. I said, matter of
35:19
fact, there's a gate right there. And he walked over and talked to
35:21
Larry's summing, and I said, just go. It's right there, you
35:23
know, and there is a fence. And you know, sometimes I wish
35:27
that fence wasn't there, but that fence is there. And fence makes for
35:30
great neighbors because Jody will wander over and I'm telling you will lean that fence
35:35
because I really enjoy talking to Joey and we will sit there and talk a
35:38
little bit. Never I don't take up people's time. Maybe five minutes and
35:42
I'm you know, he's done, I'm going. But it's nice to have
35:45
that relationship. And I've said this almost every show. When this was done
35:51
and it was over, it's you know, it's final. They are the
35:54
proprietors. I'm in a building that I own next to them. But there
36:00
has been great relationship. I mean, Jody, come over the other days.
36:04
You can't paper towels. I went over the other day. I said,
36:07
don't you get this ball? But I said, I need this,
36:09
Bob, I said, just could have years in order one put it on
36:13
my ticket and you have it find that relationship, especially when people has purchased
36:20
or leased or took it, taken over whatever the right word is. The
36:23
business. Sometimes people can get offended, and I don't never get offended.
36:28
I saw, yeah, I saw the business. Ones that came with a
36:30
training pickage. And after I sold the business, they told me to get
36:32
lost. I see. I don't know why people feel like they have to,
36:37
because we see that a lot in the automobileness as people buy dealerships and
36:40
it's like, you know, the the fireworks go off, the bridge gets
36:45
burned, and the dealerships. Richard and I bought your store, the new
36:49
car stores. We have great relationships with all those people. We want to
36:52
keep that because they you know, you fostered that business for thirty seven years.
36:55
I think of Billy Pantella and Princeton. I mean he built that for
37:00
we use car store to a franchise store. So I mean we want to
37:02
keep you guys as friends. I mean, there's nothing, there's no reason
37:06
we can't be friends. Well, as I've said before, and I've said
37:08
doing the show, you know, just because the owner may have changed,
37:14
the customer base didn't such so respect that customer base coming in absolutely, and
37:19
you know if it's not if it's not broken, it doesn't need fixed.
37:22
No. Amen, we had a great show this morning. I hope that
37:25
you enjoyed it. From Stevens Auto in Nitro, West Virginia. Chase Martin
37:29
was here also Larry Dawson. You can find out more information online. It's
37:32
Stevens autou Nitro dot com, Stevens of Nitro dot com, Stevens Stephens,
37:37
Stephens Auto dot com. We'll get you. That's right, that's it.
37:39
Stephens Auto dot com is the main address, Stevens of Nitro dot com.
37:43
We'll get you to the Nitro address for eighteen First Avenue South in Nitro,
37:45
West Virginia is where you can find the find the dealership and have three zero
37:50
four seven two seven zero four six four seven two seven zero four six fur
37:53
Chase, thank you so much for your time, Dale, Thanks for having
37:55
me, Larry, thanks for letting me join you. I really enjoyed it,
37:59
Larry, Thank you everyone for listening. And coming up next is fave
38:01
E d Love. Jeff Jenkins is pinch hitting fitting for Dave Allen today and
38:05
then Hoppy Coourgible after that on talk Line at ten o six. I'll be
38:07
back this afternoon with Dave Weekly at three oh six on Hotline. Have a
38:10
great day everyone. You're listening to the voice of Charleston fave ad w C
38:14
AHX fy bd w C A s A n MEY six point five. That's
38:30
in Charleston one oh four point five Cross Lane on WVRC Media Station. We're
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proud to live here too.