Earl Stewart

Note: Hello readers, here’s a throwback column from 2103. I think I did a pretty good job describing the tough situations many seniors find themselves in. There was a news story about a 94-year-old man who hit a woman riding a bicycle. It wasn’t the man’s fault; the woman, in her 50s, ran a stop sign. They put the old […]

This article first appeared in Florida Weekly on July 14, 2022. The last time you paid your bill for your car’s maintenance or repair, there was an extra, probably unnoticed charge at the bottom of the service invoice. This extra charge was not for the parts or labor performed on your car. If you noticed it at all, it was […]

Last Friday, Ted Smith and I had a heated phone conversation about a previous column I’d written in which I blamed Ted and the Florida Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) for the fact that Ashley Moody, Florida’s Attorney General had not enforced Florida laws, on the books for over 20 years regulating car dealers. I learned from my conversation that I […]

Many readers of this column won’t remember Harry Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, but those of you who do will remember the sign he had on his desk in the Oval Office: “The Buck Stops Here.” The sign means that he accepted the responsibility for all acts, policies, and decisions under his command. To be realistic, we […]

This article first appeared in Florida Weekly on January 12, 2023. The modern, high-tech remote keys for our vehicles are amazing. Not only can they start your car, but they also can lock and unlock the doors, open the trunk and help you find your car at the mall by flashing lights or blowing the horn. Some of us didn’t […]

This article first appeared in Florida Weekly on October 13, 2022. As I write this column, the terrible toll of human injuries, lives lost and homes and vehicles damaged and destroyed by Hurricane Ian still was being tabulated. It’s clear that Ian will go down in history as the costliest hurricane in Florida’s history . We think of hurricanes’ danger […]

This article first appeared in Florida Weekly on January 20, 2022. Most of the “skullduggery” Florida car dealers use to trick you into overpaying for the vehicles they sell is illegal. Florida Statute Title XXXIII, REGULATION OF TRADE, COMMERCE, INVESTMENTS, AND SOLICITATIONS, 501.976 regulates “actionable, unfair, or deceptive acts or practices” in trade and commerce. If you want to read […]

This article first appeared in Florida Weekly on September 22, 2022. Car dealers have been the retailing arm for auto manufacturers for over 100 years. Manufacturers needed dealers to grow as rapidly as they have, beginning with Henry Ford and the Model T. Ford’s invention of assembly line production allowed him to build far more cars than he could possibly […]

This article first appeared in Florida Weekly on December 22, 2022. Nope! Today, It’s the smart people paying MSRP! The most informative and “entertaining” part of my radio show, “Earl on Cars,” is the Mystery Shopping Report. Every week for about 20 years, I dispatch an undercover, pretend buyer of a new or used car, to a different car dealership. […]

This article first appeared in Florida Weekly on February 3, 2022. Online buying has given you, the consumer, more options than ever before to shop for the lowest price. The convenience of not having to drive to the store and have almost everything you buy delivered to your home is a huge time and cost saver. Before COVID, almost all […]