Wake up, Buy Here, Pay Here people. It's a beautiful day. Go grab yourself another cup of joe and say hello to Jim and Michelle Rhodes on the Buy Here, Pay Here morning show. Take it away, you two. Hey, good morning. Just me today. Michelle is away on her annual girls trip. Just dropped her at the airport. Scrambled back into the office just in time to get the broadcast out. Today will be brief. It's a quite simple subject to address and not too many announcements. We do have Brent Carmichael confirmed for Monday. He will be joining us, and I may change up the topic on that, so I'll wait and announce the topic with Brent soon. We had our second V8 meeting for the month. last night and a lot of progress. I mean, we're figuring out a lot of good stuff and finding ways to bring dealers numbers and things that are of value to them. So that's been a good thing to be involved in. So just for today, I wanted to dive into this subject about disclosing defects. And I barely got time to pull together one video for kind of a reference, because this is something I'm quite familiar with. Keep in mind, as a used car dealer myself some years ago, I was doing strictly as is, doing low ACV cars and short-term notes and trying to provide really affordable, accessible financing. And so we sold cars with defects, you know, they were certainly imperfect and we didn't do a hundred percent recon. And that includes some cosmetic stuff. So certainly, you know, I come from a background of addressing those kinds of things very specifically. And, you know, we have, we have plenty of dealers out there who are Obviously, everybody's dealing in used cars, and we can go broke just doing 100% reconditioning on some of this stuff. I think the premise here is, on a White Hat Wednesday, I want to talk about in the context of what does it really mean to... earn the trust of this consumer how do you go about earning the trust and how do you avoid having them end up with some level of buyer's remorse and be back in your building you know days later complaining or upset feeling you didn't disclose or some sort of a problem So before I forget to mention it, you can go back and look. We did an episode many months ago on the subject of a mechanics check. And I'll try to find that and share it because I don't recall exactly the title. I'm not sure you could search it by mechanics check. But the idea there was to be able to have the customer take the car to an independent mechanic of their choice before buying the vehicle. And this is something that I find some dealers resist it. Like when we're working with brand new dealers, we recommend that they consider that adding that step to their process. And the reason we do is because it's about, it's about mental, it's about transferring mental ownership. So that's part of why we, you know, would recommend something like an independent mechanic check. So just quickly, for those who haven't seen the episode, we really just recommend that right before closing, that one of the final steps that you do, so often this happens during the verification process. If you do, do it the process, the way we recommend and You would be doing that during the final verification, final underwriting stage, but you're sort of in a pre-approval subject to those final things and you would send the customer out to a mechanic of their choice. So again, I won't go into all the details about that, but we really just all but require them to go to the mechanic of their choice to get an assessment of the car. Why? Because we want them to feel comfortable. We want them to take that mental ownership. And also, if they discover a problem, then we would like to know about it. Wouldn't we all like to know about it before we sign the contract? So the idea then is to figure out how do we speak to that? How do we avoid having the customers back in there dissatisfied? And also, you know, in that context, it's like when... When we fully disclose and the customer has the opportunity to have the car inspected then, you know, they can take ownership in a way that they're not going to be back in there unhappy. And they're going to also, you know, have it be more likely to refer friends and family. Whereas, you know, if they feel like they've been deceived because they kind of come in right to the used car operation, half expecting to be cheated, deceived. I mean, that's if especially if they're doing business with you for the first time, they don't know you, you don't have much of a relationship with them. So this is one of the ways we earn trust is through transparency. And I want to play a little video from Jack Carter. It seems like we feature Jack's videos often. And some of the stuff he does, let me play it and you'll understand why it makes sense. So some of you will recognize this little stitch from TikTok. Say the weird thing. If you sell used cars, disclose all the flaws. If you don't disclose any flaws on a used car before you sell it and people discover the flaw on their own, which they will, they think you're a liar and they won't buy another car from you. Just tell them about it up front. Say the weird thing. So the, you know, I love how Jack is so succinct and so direct in that. And there's not a thing that he said that's not accurate, right? If you disclose upfront, and of course, you know, Jack would, I would as a dealer if I'm there. The question is, how do you get your salespeople to, you know, if they're the ones that are out there on the frontline working with customers, how much do we want them to disclose? So there's such a thing as oversharing, right? But I think what we're really talking about here is if there's actual defects, you know, something, especially as something that the customer might not discover on their own, then we want to make sure and share that. And, you know, keep in mind, I come from a background of, we used to disclose or dispose of repo cars and we would, you know, um sometimes they'd be trade-ins repos whatever but when they had you know significant mechanical problems we would simply have a silent auction we would write right on the glass with you know wax pencils right on on the glass everything disclose everything we know about the car so that people in that case, you know, wholesalers knew exactly what they were buying. But the same thing here, I mean, when we're earning a customer, we know the value of that customer. Many of them can be with us for decades and some of them can refer friends and family and So when we think about when we earn that customer's business, do we want to earn it just today or do we want to earn it tomorrow and earn all those referrals and so on? I think this is part of what Jack is talking about is, you know, you have a chance to earn that continued business when you are forthright with the customer and we tell them that. you know, exactly what the car is and what it's not and let them make a decision. I didn't get a chance to get it teed up. There's another video that Michelle discovered, shared with me from somebody we follow, Josh Allrich and his dad, Billy out in Atlanta. They also, you know, are in the used car business, have been for a long time. And Josh has really started to step out there with their social media account. And he shared something about, you know, we've, We sell used cars. And so he proceeded to just do a little short video to just kind of have to explain to all the customers, don't come to us looking for a new and perfect car. And it seems kind of silly to have to go out there and be that specific about these things. But in reality, That's part of what happens. Customers, you know, buying a used car, it's going to be imperfect. And so I think it's really just a question of, you know, what do we let them know about it? And so again, this today was just about, you know, white hat context. This is how we earn trust is by being transparent. And I can just tell you from my own experience, and we still do it. Heck, when I'm meeting with somebody in, you know, who's considering us for coaching or consulting, whatever, I try to make sure they're crystal clear on what it is that they're buying, what it is that we can do for them, what it is we won't or couldn't be expected to do for them. And it's about, for me, part of the white hat element and part of the reason we talk about the white hat cowboy thing is that it's kind of an old west thing. It's the high plains thing with ranch country and that whole thing about good fences makes good neighbors. And so we like a really clear understanding. And so that means not being deceptive, right? So this is just about making sure that we're clear and that we express everything so that the customer is fully apprised of what they're buying. I want to bring an attorney in again to go into some depth about disclosure in the closing, like in the documents. And that's not just about the condition of the car. That will also extend to other kind of disclosures and make sure the customer fully understands what they're buying. So this is all kind of part of the same context. It's like, can we earn the customer's business today? And will we then earn those referrals tomorrow? And this customer's repeat business just by being forthright with them and And that they understand because, you know, it kind of goes back to the thing about how can we expect the customer to be honest with us if we haven't been honest with them? It's just, come on, honesty is a two-way street, right? And so if we're going to expect honesty from them, we got to be honest up front. And this is part of where we can start that and be able to demonstrate that, you know, this is part of the thing. so Michelle says hello from the airport apparently so those of you who you know tune in regularly partly to hear Michelle's infectious laugh you won't have that for the next few episodes she's not I asked her not to bother to try to tune in while she's away on her vacation focus on her her time with the girlfriends and so this will also give me an opportunity over the next few episodes you won't hear Michelle's infectious laugh but you will be able to hear me tell the stories of about Michelle while she's not here to defend herself, you're going to want to be here for those. So look, I look forward to, uh, having a chance to share some of those stories. We were having some laughs on the way to the airport just this morning. So we, we do get around a lot. And, um, and I, uh, i I'm gonna miss having her here on the broadcast but I'm also glad she's getting a little time away and get a chance to to spend some time with the girls that she calls her sisters so anyway all good stuff but yeah I think we you know we covered what I wanted to share with everybody this morning I think it's just um this idea that Part of earning trust, which is a big thing for us in White Hat Teachings, is how to earn the trust of this customer in a way that they become that raving fan and that they refer all the people to us. This is one of the steps that we can go through. and you know obviously cosmetic defects are easy enough for the customer to spot it's going to be more of any other kind of things that we need to make the customer aware of with a particular car and you know you've got all kinds of things that come up it's just if it's not immediately evident it's not immediately visible then we would want to share that with the customer and you know I think I'll just kind of add to this, this idea. And one of the things we may bring Brent Carmichael in to talk about is posting of expenses and also just decisioning about expenses. But I think one of the things that happens is that in this context of disclosure, it's like, I still know that it's possible to have a customer purchase a car that's less than perfect when we present it properly. And look, I know I work with enough car dealers and some car dealers just can't imagine the idea of putting a car out there with a dented fender or tires that are 50% tread life or whatever the line is for every dealer. But I just can say that it's still possible to and I think, you know, there are dealers out there still doing it that, you know, place a car out there that's less than perfect. They explain to the customer that, you know, we've done all the reconditioning we're going to do. And, you know, we kind of stop here because we're trying to keep down payments affordable and keep the financing accessible. you know, if you like that car and you want to buy something, it's got, you know, all the fenders without any dents and let's go look at a different one. But this one, you know, it may be a little more down payment. We step over here to these cars that have, you know, all perfectly straight fenders, then, um, then, you know, then be aware that they may be a little more down payment because we'd spend a little more time and dollars in reconditioning. So, um, This is just part of the line that we walk, obviously, when we're dealing in used cars. But I think, you know, again, for today, it was more about just making sure that whatever it is that we're aware of, if we wait and allow the customer to discover that defect after signing a contract, then we naturally put ourselves in a difficult place. And we're simply suggesting that, you know, that's avoidable. And we think you ought to take the time to make sure that you know the cars quite well. And if you're going to put a car out, that's less than perfect. Let's make sure that the customer understands, you know, what they're, what they're getting, what they're signing up for. And that way they can, you know, be, be informed and make a good decision, you know, about how they want to do that part. But yeah, But anyway, that's enough. We covered that for today. I think it's just about disclosing and thanks after the fact to Jack Carter. I shared that without reaching out to him, but obviously it's out there on social media. We would recommend that you follow Jack Carter if you're not over there already. Follow Jack Carter and Turn and Burn Motors. And then look for Joshua D. Allrich. And Allrich, I think it's Allrich Auto Sales. But it's A-L-L-R-I-C-H. Find those folks and follow what Josh is doing over on social media as well. That's another kind of way to, one, see the way that they are really building up their traffic and the way that Josh does their social media, but also the way that they disclose and the way that they're very direct with the customers and make sure that their consumers know what they're buying and what they're not buying. And so, again, just better examples for you to turn to elsewhere to see how others are doing it. That's it for today. We'll wrap up early and I got plenty of stuff to catch up on. So we will see you back here on Friday and we appreciate you making time. See you next time.
