In this episode we're sitting down with Tywone Thomas, CEO/Founder of Auto Assistance, to talk about the car buying service that's available to our credit union members and car buying tips you should know before you start shopping around.
Video Transcription Below:
00:07
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Spillin’ the Peach Tea. My name is Gabe.
And my name is Elia. And today we have a very special guest, Mr. Tywone Thomas, President and CEO of Auto Assistance.
Today we'll be talking about everything dealing with auto loans and giving you guys very important tips and tricks to keep in mind when you're buying your next vehicle.
Tywone, we are very excited to have you on today. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and maybe throw in a little fun fact, or shall I say tea, about yourself?
Absolutely. Well, first of all, it's a pleasure to be here.
Thank you so much for the opportunity.
And Peach State actually, uhh carries a very special place in my heart and in our business. And I'm very thankful for your team, the credit union, and your leadership here. Umm You guys are just awesome and just so happy to be here. So thank you.
01:03
A little bit about umm my journey and who I am and so forth. Again, I'm Tywone, I'm the founder and CEO of Auto Assistance.
I started the company back in 2013, and when we started the company, my wife and I, we started the company because we wanted to make a difference. We wanted to do something that would be able to help make the auto buying process easier for people. And at the moment, I didn't understand how that was all going to work out and how we were going to bring legs to that.
But anyhow, so we started the company and so forth, and here we are today. We started with $600 and here we are today serving all the members that we're serving and the impact and our staff and so forth. And we look forward to the future of how it's going to grow and develop.
Also, you know, a little fun fact, my wife and I were getting ready to celebrate our 21-year anniversary.
Very nice.
Three kids and and yes, 21 years of learning and growing and she has made me a better person. I know we're going to get a chance to talk about our app a little bit. I have inspirations from her. She has inspired the app in different ways as well as we've built it. And umm, you know, she's made me better, you know. Our team, we have a lot of different types of personalities that we work with and backgrounds and my wife has just helped me become a better leader and so forth.
That's awesome.
02:35
I actually didn't know you started it with your wife because I was, you know, looking on your website and doing some research and I don't think I saw that or maybe I missed it.
She's a silent partner.
Okay, love that.
The inspiration behind the magic.
Yeah, she's the one that helps me with like decisions and when we're talking about, umm you know, hiring and the different type of people or different type of issues and different things like that. Some of the larger infrastructure type of decisions that I have to make umm, she's a part of that process.
At first, I did not listen to her. But I have learned to listen to her over the years.
That's how it goes.
Made lots of mistakes. Yes, yes.
03:20
So like we said, you're the president and CEO of Auto Assistance.
For our viewers and listeners who may not know what Auto Assistance is, can you explain what Auto Assistance does and umm, you kind of talked about why you decided to start it, but maybe get more into that.
Yeah, so Auto Assistance, we're an auto buying service that caters to credit union members. And basically, we work directly with the credit union, and when you have members that's pre-approved for an auto loan, they're referred over to our team, and our team help walk the members through the entire car buying process.
On our website, we have probably close to 16,000 vehicles, and we have over 70 dealers that are a part of our dealer network, and these are dealerships that are in Georgia, Florida, just all over the place, Tennessee, and so forth, but we have umm, a network of dealers that we partner with and at every dealership that we work with we have a representative there and that representative is in charge of our program.
So when we call, and call upon a vehicle, that rep is able to let us know yes the vehicle is still available and then also we ask them so tell me the real deal about the vehicle.
So you know let's say it may take an hour, especially living here in Atlanta, it may take an hour to drive to a dealership. Wouldn't you like to know the real deal that the car a huge scratch.
The photo online was beautiful. It was shining, it was sparkling and everything, but when you got to the car, it smelled like….
It’s not the same.
It smelt like something, you know.
04:55
Oh, I've been through that. You see it online, the pictures look amazing and you get there and it's gotten into an accident or has a big dent in it. So yeah, I've definitely been through that.
It's like that commercial, I don't know if y'all have seen it.
I'm not going to name the name of the company, but it's like they went to stay at a particular place and when they got there it was like a scary scene because it wasn't what they expected.
Yeah, yeah.
Right.
And that's what happens sometimes in a car buying journey. And we, our whole goal is to help give members more confidence while they're shopping and then also make the process more transparent and just make it so much easier so members don't have to shop alone. And then also they can be confident in their decision knowing that they actually did not overpay for a vehicle.
I think that takes the stress, a lot off the individual because car buying can be very stressful.
Yes.
I mean, it is stressful, but I mean, you got to think too, like, you know, he's talking about going from Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, you know, probably some other surrounding states possibly.
Umm you know. When you're looking for a vehicle, it's like trying to make that journey takes time out of your day. And it's like you don't want to take off work to have to drive to another state to see a vehicle. So being able to have that contact and you know, have them tell you the real deal without you...feel like you're being fleeced.
Absolutely.
You know...I mean..
06:20
And let me share this. Now, there's a lot of great dealerships, and we have a lot of great partners and just upstanding. But you have some bad characters out there, just like you have in any industry.
Umm, there was a member that had reached out to us before and they wanted a particular Toyota. And I think it was a Toyota Tacoma, if I'm not mistaken. It was a great price. We shopped around, looked around. There was nothing that we can get that was even comparable or nothing close to what the member had found on their own.
So I wanted to take a little bit more closer look. I'm like, hey, if they're selling great deals and having hot deals, maybe we need to be connected and offer those vehicles to our members if they fit our profile and can, you know, be a good partner with us.
But anyhow, the member sent me the link to the vehicle. I took a look at the vehicle. The interesting thing is when you look at the description, the fine print, it mentioned that this vehicle, it includes a $4,500 down payment. That's why it was so cheap, the price. So why wouldn't that particular dealership get a bunch of phone calls because of that price?
See, I despise that. I hate that. I hate that to my core, and I know that's a strong word, but I hate that because it's misleading.
And you know like, if…and here's another thing.
What if a car is being advertised? And it has $10,000 worth of incentives, but they say, oh, you only get that if you finance through us.
Yeah.
If that's not clearly labeled and understood, you know, it's hard to compare apples with apples. And that's what we want to help navigate members through that process so they don't have to do all that by themselves.
Yeah, you're of really kind of mitigating some of that fine print.
Yes.
Which is always something that I think gets car buyers today because it's like, like you said, a lot of misleading ads, a lot of things to get to the door.
Yes.
And then once they kind of got you in the door, you know, now we're playing on your heartstrings of how much you really want that vehicle. And then we can kind of finagle you into paying some of those costs.
That's one thing we do. We work out the deal before the member even sees the vehicle.
Nice.
The lending team gets involved before the member even sees the vehicle.
Wow.
They know their payment. So therefore, when you get there, you know exactly what you're getting, or if a vehicle is delivered, you know exactly what, if you like this car, you know you can buy it because everything has been done. In addition to that, you didn't ask this, but I'm just...
Go for it. You’re good.
But we have developed this new application, that, uh what happens is every time we have a member that's interested—especially in a pre-owned vehicle—umm, we send out what's called a vehicle inspection request to one of our dealer partners. They will take a look at, they'll get that link, they'll be able to walk around the car with a video, and we don't wanna walk around the car and just see how pretty the car is.
I want you to point out what imperfections, significant imperfections are on this vehicle that we need to be aware of. Does it have a scratch on the side? Does it have a big dent? Is something, you know, what's wrong? You know. Don't talk about all the good, talk about what is wrong potentially, with this vehicle, and if nothing is wrong, that's great, but they're able to walk around with their camera, and they can upload that the video and the photos, and then also we ask them questions, specific questions: Has it, is it a previous smoker car?
See, you can find the perfect vehicle.
09:57
Let's say you don't smoke, and I hope you don't, because it's not healthy. But, but let's say you're not a smoker, and you're sensitive to that, and you get there. And then all of a sudden the car is smoked and you're like, this is, I love everything about the car, the deal and everything. But the car...
It has that odor that you can't get out.
You can never get that out.
You know, we had a member, I mean, we had situations that, somebody went to a dealership or went somewhere and the car came and the car smelled like weed. And you're like, what in the world? Now, I'm sure you don't have to edit this.
I'm actually going to keep this in.
It's real because I want to know that.
Of course! If you're buying a car worth thousands of dollars, you want to know that information.
Exactly. You want to know ahead of time. So with this link that we sent out, they're able to answer those questions. Does it have previous like, pet hair all over it?
Like ee want to know because the more information we can know, we can pass that along to the member so they can make an informed decision, whether this is a good option or we need to keep searching. So anyhow, just wanted to share.
You know, those are those are the nice small details that I didn't even think about when it comes to car buying because I guess, you know, for the most part, it's like the key things that you're kind of worried about when it comes to a car is, hey, you know, has it been wrecked? Is there any damage, whether it be a scratch, a dent, blah, blah, blah.
Transmission.
Yeah, any of the, umm, engine issues and then also maybe how many owners it's had right but you don't think hey did the previous owner have pets you know because a lot of people do have pets these days and a lot of times they're inside the vehicle and you know there's accidents that happen you have pet hair like you said um the smoking element and smoking of other things…So you know those are the small details that It's good to know that like, you know, that your company is actually picking up on those because I don't even think like, you know, some of these other companies, umm are really documenting those things.
Yeah.
And so, you know, those are just the, I think the fine details that really kind of puts you above the competition, you know what I mean?
12:22
Here's the thing.
We consider, and when we first started this company, we realized we are brand extenders. If Peach State is going to associate with Auto Assistance, we have to make sure that we can extend that brand. So details matter. Details of the process.
It's not about just getting a vehicle, but it's how you get the vehicle. The process is the how. You know, that's the thing that our team, we work so hard on, is just those details. Because when you look at the details, that adds up to something bigger and so forth. So, you know, yeah.
Okay.
Very nice.
Well, I was going to say, you know, he mentioned, umm working with the credit unions. Could you tell us why you chose credit unions to partner with?
I'm not a real car guy. Like, I think cars are cool, but I'm like, I mean, I like cars, but I'm not like,
Just gets you from point A to Point B?
Yes! Like my son, he's a car guy. I mean, he goes to the car meets, you know, go and look at the engines. You know, he just recently bought a car and I was like, why did you buy that car at first?
But it was like because of the engine, the engine dad, the engine. It's a certain type.
And I'm like, Okay, but I'm not that type of person. But what I am and the way that I look at what I like and what I'm driven, by is I like helping people. I don't care if it's shoes, if it's housing, or if it's something, it doesn't matter, I like helping people. That's what helps me get up in the morning.
It's not, I get a chance to sell a car, or I get a chance to put another transaction, I get another chance to you know be this or do that, but I like genuinely helping people.
Umm my mother, and I'll get back to that, I'm kind of going around a little bit, but my mother, I grew up in a single-parent home and while growing up my mom would go out and buy her car. As I reflect back on that,I don't even want to know what kind of deal my mom got on the car. I mean, I'll probably, it'll be probably heartbreaking what she experienced and what she, maybe how she got taken advantage of. Possibly, maybe, not.
But I thought about, okay, what if I...a type of service and what we do, what if we can make an impact on single parents like my mother, you know, so they don't have to shop alone?
They have so many things that they're juggling just by themselves, just trying to keep the kids together and get everybody together. But then, when it comes to transportation, what if they had somebody to help them with that process so they didn't feel like they had to do it alone?
You know, what about the busy person that they have? We have doctors, we have teachers, we have principals, we have all kinds of different people, you know, that have a lot of different responsibility that's coming to us.
They're high on their expertise. They may not be high on car buying, but that's when we're able to step in because that's what we're good at.
And again, it's the passion for helping people.
So going back to your question, the missions, the mission of credit unions is people helping people and that aligns with our vision of helping people. And we want to be, we want to, I want to make our small little mark in the credit union arena, to make a big impact on the credit union movement. And that's, that’s what we do.
15:50
I love that because you don't see that nowadays a lot. I feel like a majority of, especially car buying dealerships and all that stuff, they want to take advantage of people, and they want to get them with that fine print. And I love to hear that your mission is truly to help those individuals get the best deal, the best car, that their family needs, their wife needs, to get them around and get those kids to soccer, even if you know, God forbid, that you get to, like, there's an emergency. So, I love that.
And it’s all about relationships.
And it's like, you know, you have no idea who you're helping. You know, you may be helping the custodian, you may be helping the store manager, you may be helping the front desk person. It doesn't matter. And you never know where those, those, those, those opportunities may cross in the future. So, you give it all you got you help people and that's what we're about is just helping people.
And one of the things that we do too, is we try to encourage our team whenever members take take delivery of a vehicle, we ask our dealers to take a picture of the delivery and then when we get that picture we share it amongst the credit union and so forth the team because what it is it's a reminder of what we do it's the stories behind who we serve and what we do beyond the numbers.
We can get caught up in transactions. We can get up and transactions is important. We got to look at the bottom line. We got to do all that. That's super important.
But we got to make sure that we're not losing the focus of it's all about people. It's about making a difference in people's lives.
We received a photo one time from a member and she was standing in front of her vehicle and or her kids were like laying, hugging the car and she was a single parent and it just, it, that touched, that made me all touched because I'm like, wow, we, we...
Yea, the impact you're making.
Yes, and all those kids, you know, they can go to school and have AC, you know, don't be sweating by the time they get to school, you know, whatever.
In this heat
Yes.
Yeah, it is rough in here.
17:57
Umm, you did recently launched a new app.
Yes.
Can you talk about that and how that adds to the current Auto Assistance process?
Yes, great. Thank you so much for asking that.
Umm, we have a new member intake form, and your members can actually access that directly from Peach State's website. And, basically this app helps us stay true and stay focused on what we're good at, and that's the relationship part.
The app is members will receive the app, they'll receive the link to the app once they get pre-approved or if they just want to go to the website they can look at it. What it is, it takes them through the journey of asking questions. It's almost like me or a member of my team is sitting right next to you and talking about your car buying needs and asking questions as far as what's the oldest year will you consider?
Umm, what's the max amount of miles will you consider on the vehicle? What's your top three vehicle option choices? Just going through basic, what is the purpose of your vehicle as a daily commuter? Umm, do you need a third row seat?
Like, what's important?
What's the real deal behind the car transaction is what we're trying to get at, and then, once the member answers a few of those questions, it literally takes 3 to 5 minutes. And at the end, they're presented with auto-generated vehicles that's curated based on their needs.
And in addition to that, it automatically suggests alternative options.
So let's say, for instance, you're online and you're looking for a vehicle and you want to stay within 50,000, you want a vehicle that's $50,000 less, you want to be at $20,000, but you want 50,000 miles or less on the miles.
What if there's a perfect vehicle out there that has 50,300 miles on it?
Uh huh. Yeah.
But because you put..
Those parameters.
50,000, it only presented that.
Yeah.
Our system generates alternative options to help you think about that.
Here's another thing. Let's say you're looking at a pre-owned vehicle.
Let's say a Honda Accord, a one-year-old Honda. Do you know in some cases, you can save more money and get a lower price on buying a brand new Honda than a slightly pre-owned Honda in some cases? And so we're presenting new car options, you know, while someone may be looking at a one or two. So, the system is helping generating those options.
20:26
In addition to that, we have what's called the members' vault that, once they submit their information and they get presented the options every day, we have an e-mail that's curated based on their, uhh preferences and the system is searching throughout our network not just cars in general. These are our dealers, that are approved through our network and it's constantly searching for new options to fit the preferences that the member is looking for. All along they have a member auto representative, a human auto member auto representative that's there to answer any questions and help them bring all the pieces together. So it's the technology that's adding to the human element.
I love that you said that.
We're not getting rid of humans.
That's what people want to hear.
Exactly.
We're focusing on how can we be better at what we do. How can we be better at relationships? How can we serve better? How can we make ourselves available without having to do a lot of the other technical things? The tech is helping us do that and focus.
Very nice.
21:35
So I know you kind of hit on this, but umm, in your opinion, what sets Auto Assistance apart from the competition?
So I think part of it is our core values, and it's the why behind the doing.
You can have the same company doing the same thing, similar things, but we pay attention to the details. But then also it's the core values.
For example, let me tell you one of our core values. One of our core values is we want to make sure that we treat every member like they're the president of the credit union. So I know when Marshall calls me, I'm like, hey, Marshall, you know, I want to make sure that we're able to serve him in the best way because he's the president of the credit union.
But you know what's interesting? You can have a brand new member that just joined or a member that doesn't have a bunch of notoriety or whatever. They will get that same level of respect. And that's what we train from. And that's what we want members to experience.
And that’s what everybody wants.
Exactly.
So we want to make sure that that's how we operate. And that's the vision that's before us at all times. And do we get it right every time? No, but if you don't have a vision before you, how do you know what to aim for? And those are some of the core things. Another thing is, we want to make sure that we're responsive. So if someone emails us, you want to make sure you e-mail them back. Don't ghost anybody, you know.
It's simple things. It's those small details that makes the difference. So that's what we focus on and I think that's what helps separates us.
I mean, I know when, and I haven't bought that many cars, but the cars that I have bought is, I definitely haven't gotten that kind of service. Definitely you go to the dealership, you're there, probably 12 hours.
Like you're there all day and you finally agree on a price and then they bring up these other hidden fees and then you go back and you negotiate. So,umm I would have loved to have auto assistance on my side to help me navigate that.
You just said 12 hours. I was like, that's a long time.
Probably more. I've probably been in a dealership longer than 12 hours.
Wow.
I don't like that
I mean, I've had different situations, you know, obviously, depending on who you're buying the car from, I mean, you have your mom and pops, you have your actual brand dealerships, and then you have, you know, these internet sites now that allow you to kind of circumvent the dealer.
But, you know, once again, you're kind of getting a service, but it's not as detailed and dialed down to the buyer in that circumstance. But like she's saying, I mean, I haven't been in a dealership for a full 12 hours, but you know, when you really think about the hours spent from that first initial visit,
the time that, let's say you don't buy it in the first visit but you you're talking to a dealer in that meantime you come back to look at the car again spend another few hours, maybe your decision's not been made there, I mean yeah I mean all in all you may spend 12, 15, 16 hours you know before you actually buy that car and…
I think with your service, it dials down that time because you have somebody working for you, and then you actually have a real person who's going to tell you the straight facts versus talking to, you may talk to this dealer when you first come in, and then when you come back the next time, that guy might not be in, so there'll be somebody else who wants to steal the sale.
And then they're going to tell you something that maybe the first dealer didn't tell you because Like I said, he wants to get that sale, he wants to get that commission, and then you're like, oh, well, the first guy didn't tell me that. Well, why is that? You know, and then maybe you see something else.
So I think your service really, umm gives the member that peace of mind that you won't get when you step outside on your own. So…
25:48
And I’ll say this, there are some dealerships that they have maybe 30, I mean, you can be in and out of there in 30 minutes, an hour. But, again, how do you know where those dealers are and who they are?
They have a really great turnaround time and so forth, but how do you know where they are? And a lot of times we like to focus on, let’s do the prep work. If we do the prep work, then it makes the inexperience a lot faster, or it makes the experience when you get to the dealership or have the car delivered so much more easier and faster.
I heard someone once say that if you don’t have a vision for your life, your employer will. And the thing I like about it as well, if you don’t have a vision of your car buying experience or your car buying process, your car dealer will.
So if you can figure out what it is that you want to do and how you want to do it, then I think that will make the process a lot easier. And you can work with that the dealer. You can work hand in hand because you know, I think a lot of times people start the car buying process, but they don’t know what they want to do. They don’t know. They’re unsure.
They don’t know what they want.
But if you have confidence, because of the work you put in, I think that’s what makes the experience better. And that’s what we like to bring to the table is helping with the confidence and working alongside our great dealers and making it easier and so forth.
27:20
I love that, because I feel like a lot of people don't have that confidence going into the car buying process because they know how dealers are, and umm, it's a very scary process. They put it off, you know. Umm. Speaking on that, what do you think the biggest mistake people make when they're about to buy a car? Like, and how do you, how would Auto Assistance (or you) help—what would help them?
That's a great question. I think one of the biggest mistakes that people make when they're shopping for a vehicle is you can see a car that you like, you can negotiate the price. Let's say you get $500 off the price. You can feel like you're Superman—like, I just got five hundred dollars—you're feeling all really good, I'm about to go buy me a steak now because I did something, you know. And you may have done something great, but you know what, here's the one thing that they fail to do and a lot of people fail to do:
They don't pull what's called—especially if they're looking at a pre-owned vehicle—they don't pull the JD Power retail value.
So the car may be advertised for $25,000, but then let's say they negotiate $500 off. But let's say the JD Power retail is $24,000. You think you did something great, but actually you're still overpaying for the vehicle. So if you have that information ahead of time, and that's one thing that we do on pre-owned vehicles...
We do what's called a deal analyzer. And on whatever vehicle—if a member is interested in it—we'll pull it. We'll do a deal analyzer. We pull the JD Power retail value if it's a pre-owned vehicle or the MSRP if it's a new vehicle. If it's a used vehicle, we do that. We also provide a copy of the CARFAX.
Another thing. You'll be so amazed by how many people are not pulling the CARFAX.
Which is crazy.
I gotta tell you this—so my son, you know, I'm his dad, you know what I do. He knows exactly what I do.
And he's like mmm...
How old is your son?
He's 19.
Okay.
But he's had like... he's like on his eighth car now.
Oh, so he's a seasoned vet in car buying.
But let me say, hold on, here's the meat of the story.
Oh man.
He bought a car—his friend was selling it. I think it was a Ford Mustang. He was super excited; the car looked great, everything—like vroom, vroom, everything—it was nice.
I asked him, "Did you pull the Carfax?"
"No, he has the title and everything is good."
"Okay... did you pull the Carfax?"
"No, I don't know."
Anyhow, he bought the car, and his whole goal was he wanted to buy it, fix it up, and then sell it.
30:04
Um, so he got the car. He ended up getting the title. He took it somewhere to get an appraisal done on it because he wants to sell it. Came back—it had a salvage title.
OWWWW!
It cut the value in half. And I looked at him, I was like, "You see why I said pull the Carfax?" The car looked great. It looked wonderful.
Yeah, that's nothing. You gotta…
So it's so important. A lot of people are not pulling a Carfax. Again, it's not going to tell you everything, but some information is better than nothing.
Right.
And as you get more, you get more information, we've been talking about building up your confidence. If you know more, your confidence level is built up.
You pull the JD Power—my confidence level is built up. I bought the CARFAX—my confidence level is built up. I'm working with Auto Assistance—you know how to put that little plug in. My confidence level is up.
So that's what I would say is : making sure you're pulling the JD Power retail and also making sure that you're pulling the CARFAX if you look at a pre-owned vehicle.
No I’m glad you brought up the CARFAX though, because there was one point when I was doing a vehicle search for myself. I had an accident and had to go out and get a car. And of course, you know, in those situations, you're needing a car pretty much at that moment.
Um, but one of the cars that I ended up selecting, um had a... what is it when they switch the title? Or the title is rebuilt—is that what it was?
Yeah, rebuilt title.
Yea, so that was information that kind of came up later. And with the CARFAX, there's a lot of things that I think normal people who aren't really familiar you know, with the lingo and any of the terms... like you said, you have the title change, you have the salvage title, you have, umm, there might be a um buyback.
And so a lot of those things—like in your mind—you don't hear "the car's been wrecked."
Yeah.
And so you still decide to buy the car. But then it's that resale... and you take your car back to resell it and you're like, "Oh, well, I looked my car up. It looks like it's worth 10 grand, right? So I want 10 grand."
"Uhhh Sir?"
"The CARFAX says that this is a salvage title, so we're only going to give you $2,000."
"What do you mean? The car's fine. It drives fine. This is ridiculous."
"Well, this was on the CARFAX when you bought it."
And they're like, "What CARFAX? What is CARFAX?"
So, you know, those are the little things, I think too, that might not be a mistake for new buyers, but it's just the lack of knowledge.
Yeah.
Come back and bite them later on.
Yeah, and if you have Auto Assistance, you know
That won’t happen.
You've got somebody who's looking out for it.
Plug. Plug.
Yeah, and you know, the question that I will propose to anybody that's looking at buying a vehicle is if the vehicle has had a previous accident. Some accidents are minor, and it's not bad at all. But when you get up to moderate and major and different things, severe, that's when it gets a little like, you need to maybe caution a lot, caution on that.
But my question is, this vehicle you're interested in, you're buying it, or you're looking at buying it, has an accident. Are you willing for this story to carry on? Are you willing to live with the story of this car? Even when it's time for you to resell the vehicle. It's basically what you're saying.
Yeah.
And I think that's why also it's important to buy from reputable dealers as well, because certain dealers, they have certain high standards that are not, other dealers, certain other dealers may not have the same standards. And that's why it matters, you know, what are their values, what are their standards.
And you know, how do you find that out about dealers? What I like to do, I like to look at car reviews or the Google reviews, because, but here's the thing. I'm not just looking at Google reviews just for the heck of it. I'm looking at Google reviews, and I'm looking at the positives. I'm also looking at the negatives.
But here's the thing. I'm looking at how the dealership responded to the negatives.
Oh, that's a good point.
How they responded, because however they respond, that's how you could expect the response to be.
That's a great point.
So if they're responding with a service type mindset, and they're positive and everything, and it's not like, well, you this and that, or they're responding negative and all that, that's a red flag. And I think that's very important.
In my earlier days, I didn't understand what that meant.
Yeah.
But later, I understand the response is greater than just, the or how you respond is just as important as just responding.
Right.
I've never thought to look at how the dealer, like how the company, when looking at reviews, I've never thought about looking at how the um business or dealership or whatever responds. I will be doing that moving forward.
One thing I always say, you know, when you really think about a business, right, like if. Even if the business is subpar, if their customer service is 100%, it gives you a reason to come back.
Yeah, it does.
Because you know that even if something isn't right in that visit that you come back for the 15th, 20th time, blah, blah, blah, you know it's going to be taken care of.
Yes.
And then your next visit, you're back on par.
Yes.
So I think that's one thing that when you're talking about those reviews and the response that um really sticks in people's minds because that customer service means, hey, when I know I have an issue, this company's going to help me and we're going to get it resolved and then I can continue on with my life. And so.
35:10
See we work in the auto industry, and things are all, I mean, it's man-made.
Anything can break at any time. A check engine light can come on and all that. But it's like, how do you respond to it?
And like I said, I keep on talking about our dealers. We have some great dealers. We've seen them, some of them in the good, the bad, the ugly. And that's important to see how they respond in the adversity as well. And because that gives us confidence knowing that they're going to take care of members that we're sending their way. So.
Very nice.
36:43
Are you ready to buy your first car?
Is it living rent-free in your head?
From budgeting to loan rates to maintenance costs, there's a lot to keep in mind before you drive off the lot.
Cars are fun. Car payments, not so much—especially if they're putting a strain on your budget.
A good rule of thumb is try to keep your monthly car payment at or below 15% of your monthly income.
Don't be too delulu. Use Peach State's free auto loan calculator.
37:13
When I was looking for a car previous to this—and the one that I had—they even know, like, I just bought it because I needed some wheels. Very tiny car. But I personally... did not have the best experience, but it was one of those moments where it was like, I just needed a car. I had the check that the insurance sent me and I was like, "Hey, what can I get for this price so I'm not having to have a car payment?" And uh, had issues with that car. And that's kind of what led me to this, but it happened at the right time, so.
Yeah, I don't think you'd like my most recent car buying process. I had recently gotten into an accident. I totaled my previous one. And I needed a car—like, I needed it. And I didn't want a car payment. I had just paid the other one off.
Yes.
And I just did... my dad wanted me to buy a new one—like, off the lot, like, zero mileage. And I was like, "I don't want a car payment." And, um, it was at a main, major dealership. And it was 187,000 miles on it. He was an Uber. But I fell in love—like me and my dad both fell in love with it. It's a red Honda Civic.
Nice.
And we didn't pull the CARFAX... but, we took it to a mechanic and he checked it out and everything and it seemed like everything checked out. And, I've had that for about two years now.
You've had it for a little while, yeah.
I have had to do some things to it, but it's just... in the moment, I did not. And that's what I see a lot of younger people get into nowadays, is the payments and the interest rate that you get... yeah... is not, is insane.
You... what? I'm glad you brought that up, but I'm going to go back to the question. I do have a question for both of you actually, but let me talk about this a little bit.
I think a lot of times people jump into a car payment because they feel like that's the only way. And sometimes we have to make decisions for the bigger vision that's temporary in order to get to that bigger opportunity. And I believe sometimes a lot of people try to chew too much before it's time and it ends up hurting them greatly.
And I think that sometimes, a lot of times—starting out, getting a cash car, not even just starting out—like even later in life, if you can pay cash for a car, save up and pay cash for a car. Yes, it may have 500,000 miles on it, but it's still running. And yes, something is going to break. Something's going to break on your 2026 car too. Yes, you have the warranty, hopefully, but it's going to break. That's a part, but at least you don't have a car payment.
And then you can save up until you feel comfortable and you feel like it's a wise decision. Not just you on your own—you need to get some counsel from other people. Don't just make the decision by yourself. It's good to talk to some people before you jump into this crazy car payment. Just make sure you can handle it because it may not be the best time for everybody to get a car payment. It may never be the best time for someone to get a car payment.
And I know... I mean, we're in the business of— you know, the credit union is in the business of lending money. We're in the business of helping put deals together, and a lot of people— that's how they operate—is financing vehicles. And it's nothing wrong with it, but it's very important just to be very wise in what you do. Don't bite off more than what you can handle.
40:58
Because here's the thing that a lot of people are not thinking about, insurance is crazy right now.
Yes, there’s a bunch of other aspects.
Their insurance is higher than the car payment.
Especially here in Georgia.
Yes—and depending on where you live at as well, I didn’t even know that... depending on your zip code. Yeah, I was like, wow. And then, you know, the gas... let me say this: there’s, you just started, you just graduated, you know, you want a Mercedes-Benz, you want a BMW, you want this—and yes, if that's what you want, go for it - if it fits within your framework and everything in your family. However, think about what comes with the responsibility of that vehicle.
Cause people don’t.
The repair costs, the oil changes—everything.
But here's the thing that people don't think about when they're buying a car - what type of gas does it take? Some people are pump-shocked when they go to the pump because they realize they just bought a car, they open up the gas tank, and guess what it says?
Premium.
Premium gas. You're like, premium? I'm gonna put regular.
You know, I had a...
Don't do that.
I had a Mercedes before, and I was like, "I'm not paying no premium gas in my car—I'm gonna put regular, 'cause it's cheaper," you know?
Yeah.
Okay, you know what? I paid for it. Something happened, but my car started acting up later and all that. But it's like... don't do it. Don’t do it. Know what you're getting into.
Yes.
If you're shopping for a specific vehicle, know what the insurance is. Know how much it costs, because that may help you change your mind on switching the type of vehicle that you want and make sure that you're staying in line with what you want to do.
42:26
Okay, so I answered your question—or I mentioned that I have a question for you since you asked. Off topic... kind of on topic, off topic, somewhat. Why do you do what you do? And I want to start with you individually.
Okay.
Why do you do what you do? Why do you work for the credit union? Why are you in marketing? What drives you?
Do you want to go first or do you want me to?
He looked at you first.
Okay.
So when I first started out, if you had asked me this question, I would have told you I have no idea. I was an intern. I started as an intern from college, and they offered me a position, and you got to start somewhere. I think being here and seeing—like you said—people helping people, and that's our mission as well as credit unions... seeing how we treat people, how we help people, how we just give back—our C.A.R.ES. Foundation. I think that is probably my favorite thing about Peach State and working here and just everything we do.
Umm, going through, umm, I had an opportunity to go to an affairs conference for young professionals in the credit union industry. That was a turning point for me—working for a credit union—seeing all these individuals from all over the country coming together in this one place and sharing what they do for their members or what stories they share. And I'm getting goosebumps. Umm, that was a turning point for me for why I love working here - it's just the impact we make.
And marketing was just... I've always known I wanted to do something more creative—not just like... I was never a finance person. I was never going to be an accountant or anything. So that's why I chose that marketing route. Now I run our social media. So that's just that more creative side—but just credit unions in general, I just, the more I learn about them, the more I fall in love with them. And like you said, helping people—I truly love helping people. And if I can take anything off your plate, if I can help you with this, I'm the person that would do that.
That's awesome. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that.
Of course.
Gabe, you had all this extra time.
I did.
You’re answer better be amazing.
Yeah, so for me, I'm a little different. Obviously, I'm a little older. So, you know, I've been on to some different companies. I've seen how different companies have worked. Um, so I worked for a larger company previous to this, and it was a completely different field, had nothing to do with banking or umm, you know, the credit union.
Umm, so when I got here, the one thing that I noticed was it was a community. And I think that's really what grabbed me and brought me in and made me feel a lot better about joining this place. Because I felt like, even like our small circle—it's very tight. We're always asking how your weeks were, if everybody's okay. Umm, and then as you branch out throughout the credit union itself, it's like I can walk into any department and kind of feel like it's a family. I can even go to a branch and meet somebody who I didn't even know worked for the credit union, but it's still like, "Hey, how you doing? Welcome in.Llike, umm, you know, is everything going all right with you? How's your day?"
So those are the little details that kind of make the place special versus it just feeling like you're walking into a job...you know, every day.
And then with my position specifically... you know, I'm a creative. I've always loved—umm, ever since I was young—drawing and painting and umm, crafting, things like that. And so, to be able to find a career for myself that kind of merges that passion with umm, you know, electronics and computers and AI now... it's like that makes umm, my job less of a job and more of, you know, just a personal umm passion fulfilled. So... that's, that will probably be my whole spiel.
Thank you for sharing.
Oh yeah.
47:27
And I want to share something as well that I think I may have shared this before to maybe one or two executives... or I may have not, I don't know. I'm going to spill the tea.
Okay, spill it, spill it.
So, um... like I said, I started the company in 2013. And we've been with Peach State for some years now, and your leadership team took a chance on us. I remember coming— I was going through one of the roughest times in business— and I came here and I presented to the executive staff. And they put me through the ringer. I mean... and especially if you know Marshall—he's just not going to let anybody come up in here. And your executive team, they're just not going to let anybody. So I had to come, I presented and everything. I was nervous. I didn't know I was going to get it. I was just taking a chance. I was like, "Hey, this is who we are. This is what we do."
But I tell you, it was a rough time in business behind the scenes that I was going through. I was fighting for my business. Umm, we were just fighting to survive and make it because the volume and the opportunities that we had was not... umm, we needed more opportunities—more members to work with—to help.
And I tell you... I got a call and I was told that we were awarded the contract. And I tell you, I remember exactly where I was. I almost wanted to do a cartwheel.
But Peach State has such... now we work with credit unions all over the southeast... I mean, it has grown into something very significant. At one moment, we expanded into the state of Maine for a little bit, but we had to close that down. We had great credit union support, but we ran into some problems with dealerships. They didn't want us up there. So anyhow, we just decided, you know what, we're going to focus on the southeast and we're going to grow this.
But with all that being said, Peach State has a part of our story. And one of the reasons why we are here today... because if we did not get that contract, I don't know if we would be in business right now. And for you guys to take a chance on us and to work with us and partner with us—we were able to do and fulfill the mission of what we wanted to do, and that's helping people.
That’s amazing.
That’s awesome.
And I'm just thankful. I look back... like we have a special sweet spot in our hearts for Peach State and your leadership team and your team.
And another thing is - when we launched, your team got behind us. And they believed in the vision of what we were doing. And it was our job to get out there and to prove and do what we said we were going to do. And I feel like we've done that and we're going to continue to do that. But I thank you all so much because we're able to do what we're able to do today because of your investment into us and the opportunities that you presented. So thank you.
Peach State always wants what's best for our members, and Auto Assistance is what's best for our members, so.
We're glad to be as much of a part of you as you are of us.
Yes. Yes.
And I think that just adds to not only your business, but you know, the credit union side as well, and it really brings everything kind of full circle.
Absolutely.
Putting the people first, so we thank you.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
Umm guys, we appreciate you guys joining us for this episode of Spillin’ the Peach Tea.
Thank you so much for being on. It was a blast having you.
Oh, my pleasure.
All the information you provided—umm, it was amazing.
For more tea, don't forget to hit that subscribe button, like this video, and leave a comment on future topics you'd like to hear about.
Until next time.
Peach out.
Thank you for watching!
Federally insured by NCUA.
www.peachstatefcu.org/auto-loan#autoassistance