01.03.25 SAVE MORE On Streaming / Gift Returns & January Deals

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast Episode Summary Episode: 01.03.25 – SAVE MORE On Streaming / Gift Returns & January Deals
Release Date: January 3, 2025

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Introduction

In the inaugural episode of 2025, Clark Howard ushers in the new year with practical financial advice aimed at helping listeners save money and make informed decisions. While traditionally featuring the "Clark Stink" segment on Fridays, Clark opts to kick off the year with valuable insights on managing expenses related to streaming services, gift returns, and capitalizing on January deals.

Save More on Streaming Services

[01:04] Clark Howard:
Clark addresses the recent price hike by YouTube TV, which has increased its cost by approximately 13% during the holiday season—a time already strained by inflation at around 2.2%. He criticizes the timing and magnitude of the increase, suggesting listeners reconsider their streaming expenditures.

Alternative Solutions:

1. Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST):
   Clark advocates for utilizing FAST services, emphasizing their extensive programming without the hefty subscription fees. He highlights platforms like Pluto TV, which offer a diverse range of live channels and on-demand content.
   Clark Howard: “FAST is the fastest growing part of television streaming television watching because people's budgets are pinched.”

2. Antenna for Free Over-the-Air TV:
   Recalling the days before paid television, Clark recommends investing in a good antenna to access free, high-quality broadcast channels. This method provides reliable signal and superior picture quality compared to many streaming options.

3. Customized Streaming Guides:
   Clark directs listeners to a comprehensive guide on clark.com, which details various free streaming services and advises on selecting services based on personal viewing preferences rather than succumbing to marketing pitches from major streaming providers.

Listener Questions

1. Buying a New vs. Used Car

Listener: Brian from Wisconsin
[07:30] Krista:
Brian inquires about the feasibility of purchasing a new car versus a used one, expressing concern over the doubling prices of used cars and considering a new vehicle priced around $45,000. He provides his financial background, including a $65,000 annual income, $300,000 in his 401(k), and $70,000 in savings.

[08:07] Clark Howard:
Clark commends Brian’s financial prudence, noting the market’s slow recovery and the reduced costs of new vehicles.
Clark Howard: “If you’re going to own one a long time as a practical buyer, what are the ones that are the most reliable? And it's funny because what's most reliable may be something you don't even think about as a brand.”

He advises negotiating effectively, possibly exploring broader geographic areas to find better deals, and considering Consumer Reports for reliable vehicle recommendations.

2. Vehicle Insurance Commissions

Listener: Lynette from Oklahoma
[10:37] Krista:
Lynette questions whether most of her vehicle insurance payments go to agent commissions, referencing a YouTube ad promoting direct insurance purchases.

[10:58] Clark Howard:
Clark clarifies that while agents do earn commissions, especially captive and independent agents, it does not constitute the majority of the payment.
Clark Howard: “Certainly not a majority of the payments you make for vehicle insurance going to that commission salesman. Absolutely not.”

He emphasizes the importance of shopping around for auto insurance and warns against online tools that may favor certain insurers, recommending direct contact with insurers for accurate quotes.

3. Credit Cards with Supplier Default Coverage

Listener: Sanjeev
[12:47] Krista:
Sanjeev seeks recommendations for credit cards that offer supplier default coverage, which protects against travel suppliers going out of business.

[13:00] Clark Howard:
Clark notes that such coverage has become rare, typically available only through high-annual-fee cards like Platinum American Express and Capital One Venture X.
Clark Howard: “To my knowledge, it's the Platinum American Express product, which is an ultra-expensive credit card product. And the other is the Capital One Venture X card, which is also an expensive annual fee.”

He advises purchasing trip insurance from reputable third-party providers rather than relying on airline or seller-offered options, highlighting the importance of reading policy details carefully.

4. Contacting Companies Safely via Maps

Listener: Vincenza from Montana
[28:44] Krista:
Vincenza asks if using map applications on her iPhone to find company contact information is safe.

[29:12] Clark Howard:
Clark strongly advises against trusting contact information from map or search engine results due to potential scams.
Clark Howard: “Do not trust what you see on Maps.”

He recommends accessing a company’s official website directly through a secure browser to verify contact details, ensuring protection against fraudulent attempts to steal personal information.

5. Auto Dealership Customer Service Decline

Listener: Chelsea from Georgia
[30:47] Krista:
Chelsea expresses disappointment with her high-end auto dealership’s sudden discontinuation of courtesy Uber services for vehicle servicing, seeking recommendations for reputable independent mechanics.

[31:29] Clark Howard:
Clark explains that dealerships often use complimentary services like loaner cars or Ubers as a retention tactic to encourage repeat business, especially from loyal customers.
Clark Howard: “It's a phenomenal sales technique… it’s how they get you to come back, even out of warranty, to the overpriced service bays of a dealer instead of to an independent mechanic.”

He advises exploring online reviews and platforms like Yelp to find specialized independent repair shops that offer better customer service and competitive pricing without the high-pressure sales tactics of dealerships.

Gift Returns and January Deals

[19:25] Clark Howard:
Clark shifts focus to post-holiday financial strategies, emphasizing the opportunity presented by January for returns and deals. He advises returning unwanted holiday gifts promptly to take advantage of end-of-season clearances, which offer significant discounts.
Clark Howard: “January is a wonderful time to pick up deals. … seasonal merchandise that has not sold, the retailers have got to get rid of it.”

He highlights strategies for shopping at warehouse clubs like Sam’s Club and Costco, where items ending in specific cents (e.g., $0.01, $0.97) often indicate clearance sales on seasonal goods. Clark encourages listeners to hunt for these bargains to maximize savings.

Conclusion

Clark Howard wraps up the episode by reiterating his commitment to helping listeners achieve financial freedom through informed decision-making. He encourages setting realistic and measurable New Year's resolutions, whether they are financial goals or personal improvements, to ensure sustained progress throughout the year.

Clark Howard:
“I hope that your holiday season was wonderful… Know what we're about all year long and every year giving you ideas, strategies for you to save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off.”

Listeners are reminded to visit clark.com and clarkdeals.com for additional resources and daily newsletters packed with money-saving tips and deal alerts.

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions and advice presented by Clark Howard in the episode, providing actionable insights for listeners seeking to optimize their finances in the new year.

Transcript

[Ryan Reynolds]

If you love iPhone, you'll love Apple Card. It comes with the privacy and security you expect from Apple. Plus, you earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase, which can automatically earn interest when you open a High Yield Savings account through Apple Card. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app subject to credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility. Apple Card and Savings by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch Member FDIC terms and [e-mail] hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to.

[Clark Howard]

Raise prices due to inflation. They said yes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two year contracts, they said what the are you talking about, you insane Hollywood. So to recap, we're cutting the price of mint unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a [e-mail] Switch $45 up front payment equivalent to $15 per month new customers on first 3 month plan only. Taxes speed slower above 40 gigabytes of details.

[Clark Howard]

Happy New Year to you and welcome to the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. And normally on Fridays we have our Clark Stink segment. However, since this is our first first show of 25, I want to start with some advice to save you money throughout this year. Think about it. We're a quarter of the way through this century and Clark Sinks will be back next week. Don't worry. Today also I'm going to talk about how you want to make your holiday returns and so you don't get stuck with items you don't want to keep. Talk about Christmas gifts that people got that they'd like to return. YouTube TV announced right in the midst of the Christmas holiday stuff, giant increase in the cost of YouTube TV. It's going up $10 a month, which is an increase of I think 13%. I wonder, you know the notice from them was really oh poor us Costs have gone up for us. So we hate to do it, but we're going to clobber you with a massive increase at a time that inflation in the economy is 2 point something percent. So I hope here in 25 seeing the increases from one streaming service and after another raising prices that you'll rethink what you're doing with all the streaming. I have found it is phenomenal to use fast free ad supported television. It's like dialing back the clock to before pay tv except the amount of programming choices you have are unbelievable. Including as FAST has become more widespread and more sophisticated now with a lot of live channels as well as back catalog of movies, television and the rest. So there are several of these people who have Roku and even don't have Roku devices may be able to download Roku TV and there are a number of these that are available with free programming. My Wife Loves Pluto, which is a very popular fast television service. And I've got a list for you of all these free streaming [e-mail] in our video guide. And I like for you to do this in reverse order instead of with all the marketing pitches to get you to sign up for the latest Disney bundle or the latest this, that or the other from Paramount or any of those. Or in addition to YouTube TV, Fubo is a streaming service or any of the others. I want you to think first, what's free available for free. And so if you look at the fast services that we give you a comprehensive guide to and they are the fastest growing part that funny FAST is the fastest growing part of television streaming television watching because people's budgets are pinched. I want you next to get an antenna, okay? I want to throw you back to the future. Back to that was based 1955. I want you to think back in time to when people didn't pay for television at all. They bought the TV but the programming was free. An antenna is your best friend because with an antenna you're able to watch television that you can get where you live for free with a better signal, a better picture than you get through any of the streaming services. Oh and by the way, if you got kids and you love for them to watch pbs. PBS now has a fast service, a free ad supported TV service you just download with your smart tv. It's just an example and we've got our [e-mail] that if you do want to pay for something equivalent to how cable TV used to work, we've got a guide that you put in your favorite channel you must have and then build what is really important to you. Second favorite, third favorite and all like that. And you'll see what service you should be using in order to be able to watch the content.

[Krista]

And that's called our streaming TV tool.

[Clark Howard]

Krista, I've made a decision what we're going to get rid of YouTube TV which I have to have to get NFL Sunday ticket at preferred price.

[Krista]

I got rid of mine too when.

[Clark Howard]

They announced this and I'm going to experiment with not having every NFL game from everywhere in the 25 season.

[Krista]

Can't you still buy the Sunday ticket when it comes to it?

[Clark Howard]

I can. It's just you pay a higher price.

[Krista]

So what? You love it. That's one of those things you love.

[Clark Howard]

I really.

[Krista]

You're not going into debt for it. Come on. You don't have that many things that you indulge in. I feel like you should still pay for that.

[Clark Howard]

You know what I think I'll do? I think I'll start, you know, in early fall of the season. I miss a lot of the games anyway because it's really pretty outside. I'm outside. I miss the games or I'm traveling and I miss the games. I'm going to try it because you know what they do? They do the second chance offer at a much cheaper price late in the season and then you're getting close to the playoffs and all that. I'm going to give it a try. Dump YouTube TV, not have NFL Sunday Ticket and see if my quality of life collapses doing that. We'll see in the next fall.

[Krista]

All right, well, let's go to our first questions of the new year. This one's from Brian in Wisconsin. I'm 49 and have purchased used cars my whole life. The segment I purchased from cars with around 50,000 miles for 10 to $13,000 has more than doubled in price. It became clear a new car was the better value. What is a reasonable amount to spend on a new car? Is $45,000 crazy, or am I going through a midlife crisis? For context, I make 65,000 a year, own my home, and have $300,000 in my 401k and 70 in savings. 70,000 in savings. Thank you.

[Clark Howard]

So, Brian, I'm gathering the way you said that you own your home free and clear, no mortgage is what it sounded like. And that you've done that in your 40s is fantastic. So the used vehicle market has come down in price significantly from its peak, but it is still not healed. There are a number of factors I could bore you with about why, but it's going to take few more years for the used vehicle market to completely normalize. So buying a new vehicle, the average cost of a new vehicle has also been coming down. So buying one at 45,000 puts you pretty much in the middle of the market. There are a number of models that can get you back into the 30s for vehicles that Consumer Reports loves. If you are going to buy a new one, if you keep a new vehicle 10 years or longer, then no harm, no foul. You sound like you're very practical with your money and you would consider doing that. So if you don't have access to Consumer Reports, you can do it through your library or you can buy one time access or buy a subscription so you have all the auto reviews on first, their impressions of the driving experience with various vehicles. But more important, if you're going to own one a long time as a practical buyer, what are the ones that are the most reliable? And it's funny because what's most reliable may be something you don't even think about as a brand. So if you want to buy a new one because the distortions and pricing between new and used, go for it. Because you're right, you buy one with 50,000 miles on it today, it will cost you a lot more than it did five years ago. So it makes it tempting to look at new. Know that the new dealer lots are packed with product right now. So you may be able to negotiate, if you really shop around online, a better deal for whatever you're interested in buying than you realize and do a wider sweep. Think about where you are in Wisconsin. You've got so many population centers in the Midwest and it's no big deal if you have to go, let's say five hours from where you live to get a much cheaper price on that vehicle.

[Krista]

All right. Also related to vehicles, Lynette in Oklahoma wrote in with this. Is it true that the majority of our vehicle insurance payment is a commission that goes to the agent? I saw an ad on YouTube that claims you can buy insurance directly, cutting out the middleman. You have to input your email address to get any further information. So that's as far as I went with it.

[Clark Howard]

So, Lynette, agents do get commissions. You've got captive agents like Allstate and State Farm Use where they only sell their coverage. And then you've got what are known as independent agents that are great, particularly if you have a teenage driver in the household or something like that who are so knowledgeable and can quote widely in the Waterfront, they get a commission. But certainly not a majority of the payments you make for vehicle insurance going to that commission salesman. Absolutely not. The only type of insurance where at least the initial premium goes potentially to the agent is going to be for absolutely despicable versions, any version of universal life insurance and some whole life policies. But when you're talking auto and homeowners, no, the commissions are not exceedingly large. Like you saw the pitch on that ad on YouTube. So shopping around is your absolute best friend with auto insurance. And when you shop around, make sure you're getting quotes for the same service. The online shopping tools that were really great years ago are not anymore. Most of them have surreptitiously been purchased by large insurers that use them as what are known as lead generators so that you end up buying their insurance. And so it requires the difficult process of going back to the analog era. You have to call various insurers or go to individual websites of various insurers to get real quotes from them.

[Krista]

This came in from Sanjeev. He said you were talking about using a credit card that offers supplier default. However, no mention was made of the credit cards that offer this coverage. Could you please help with the names of such credit cards?

[Clark Howard]

So this is a really short list. As best I know, it used to be common that credit cards that were geared towards travelers and those would have pretty significant annual fees that those cards included as part of the you using that card to buy travel. They included trip insurance. And then that trip insurance in turn included what was known as supplier default. That's when they went bust or formally filed for bankruptcy or went out of business. So enough travel suppliers, airlines, tour operators, cruise lines have gone bust that the credit card companies, the banks that issue them were like, huh, well, we didn't expect that we're having to pay for all these people's nine trips that didn't happen and reimburse them. So one by one, almost every credit card issuer has eliminated coverage. And to my knowledge, there's only two card products left that still offer supplier default. And if you know of another one, please let us know if you're watching our YouTube show or hearing the podcast. To my knowledge, it's the Platinum American Express product, which is a ultra expensive credit card product. And the other is the Capital One Venture X card, which is also an expensive annual fee, but child's play compared to the American Express card. Other than that, even if you buy when you're booking travel, you buy a trip insurance policy. Many of the sellers of trip insurance no longer cover a supplier going bust because it's happened so much. Meaning it's an even more important consideration than it used to be when you're buying trip insurance. The other thing, don't ever, ever, not ever buy the garbage the airlines sell you when you're going to buy an airline ticket where they try to sell you their pseudo insurance junk before you buy your ticket. Those policies are gross, terrible cruise line ones. Don't buy theirs. You always if you are going to buy a trip policy, buy it from an independent third party seller. I've got a guide on clark.com that walks you through what you should be looking for, where you can go. I mean like in addition to insuremytrip.com there are now others that sell policies for many different issuers for trip insurance. Just know when you go to the website it looks like this is the greatest peace of mind ever. Buying a trip policy. None of that matters what they say in their propaganda. What matters is what's in the language of the contract. Read it up front to make sure it covers what you want, what you need protection for and from. And if all else fails, buy a trip insurance policy that includes cancel for any reason coverage where you get 50, 60 or 75% of your money back without having to worry about all the lingo in the contract about why they won't pay instead of why they will pay. Coming up ahead. Speaking of not wanting to pay, you got stuff you got at Christmas that you don't want. You need to know the rules of the road to returning it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

When it comes to smart money management, one of the best pieces of advice is to make your money work for you. Well, Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, and you automatically earn cash back on all your purchases. That means there's plenty of opportunities to make that money work. So shop smarter, not harder. Basically, anywhere you go nationwide, it pays to discover. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen report. Learn more at discover.com credit card.

[Progressive Insurance]

This podcast is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice Progressive loves to help people make smart choices and that's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your Progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies so you can save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Not available in all states and situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. This podcast is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice Progressive loves to help people make smart choices and that's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your Progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies so you can save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Not available in all states and situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.

[Ryan Reynolds]

If you love iPhone, you'll love Apple Card. It comes with the privacy and security you expect from Apple. Plus, you earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase, which can automatically earn interest when you open a High Yield Savings account through Apple Card. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app, subject to credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility. Apple Card and Savings by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch member FDIC terms and [e-mail] when it comes to smart money management, one of the best pieces of advice is to make your money work for you. Well, Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, and you automatically earn cash back on all your purchases. That means there's plenty of opportunities to make that money work. So shop smarter, not harder. Basically, anywhere you go nationwide, it pays to Discover based on the February 2024 Nielsen report. Learn more at discover.com creditcard so it happens.

[Clark Howard]

Somebody who loves us, knows us very well, gives us a gift for Christmas and we're like, thanks, that was so thoughtful. But it's not your thing. And it doesn't get better with time. So retailers used to be very, very accommodating on returns in January for things purchased after a certain date. This year, that date was sometime in October. With most retailers, you had till the end of January to return it. So if you waited till now, this is a great time to start dealing with returns because the people who return items the week between Christmas and New Year's, if they went to a physical store, waited in line forever. Right? You're in the catbird seat because you're returning an item at a time that whatever's still on store shelves is heavily marked down for clearance. So you're able to get the credit for whatever someone bought you and you're able to make that money go so much further this time of year. And we're moving in the next few days. We'll be at that point probably starting next week where, as I've said in the past, you could shoot a cannon off in a retail store and not hit anybody in January. So this is really the sweet spot on returns. But online returns are pretty sour this January. The retailers are hurting for certain from returns. And, you know, online sales this Christmas season were about 20% of retail sales, 80% was still in physical stores. And so when you go to return, if you try to return any other way with a physical store that also sells online. Other than returning to the store, you may face fees for returning that item because retailers lose a ton on returns. But the other ironic thing that I talked about two months ago is that more and more retailers are saying when you try to return something, we don't want it back, we'll even give you your money back, but we don't want the item back because the cost of returning it is more for them than what they can get for it. Selling it again, that's hard to believe, right? But that's the magic of what happens to a retailer that's not happy. Magic that it's so expensive for them and labor to process that return and get it back on the shelf at a time that it's now worth a lot less than it was when it was originally sold, that you may be told to keep it. Sometimes you don't want the item so you donate it to charity. Which is what I did when Amazon recently refused to take back a return but gave me a credit for it. So this though is for people who are doing okay financially. January is a wonderful time to pick up deals. You're not going to have the widespread sales that we have during Black Friday month of November. But what you do find in January is anything that was designed as seasonal merchandise that has not sold, the retailers have got to get rid of it. Because you know what's crazy right around the corner in the middle of winter, what's coming on the shelves, all the seasonal goods, what's showing up, patio furniture, pool furniture in mid winter. Because retail always sells a season ahead. So wintertime goods, Christmas oriented goods. Because a lot of retailers have buyers that just buy stuff that's just designed to sell for Christmas. And if it's still sitting there in January, it is an incredible bargain. If you're a Sam's Club member and you walk through Sam's Club, you'll see so many ones. One is anything ending like 41 cents, 91 cents, 61 cents. Those are items that Sam's has to get rid of. They're selling below their cost just to clear the aisles, clear the steel, empty the steel and get those items gone. At Costco, the what's known as the sell through number is things that end in 97 cents. Although I'm seeing more and more a second clearance number, $0.79 in Costco. And so when you see it Sam's, when you see the number sign in the corner and then you see something ending in $0.01, they're not restocking that item may well have been an item they brought in just for the Christmas selling season. And they will be selling those things so crazy cheap. Costco. The equivalent is an asterisk up in the corner and then normally 97 cents ending the price. You'll find these in the jewelry case. You'll find them in clothing. You'll find any seasonal goods that are commonly marked down as a 97 in a Costco, such as housewares, plate sets, pots and pan sets, things in the cooking aisle. That's not my. I can't even spit out the words what they sell in that kind of aisle because I only understand the eating part of food, not the stuff that happens before that. But January is your friend at the warehouse clubs as well as normal retailers.

[Krista]

And Clark Deals is all over all of this. So please visit clarkdeals.com and subscribe to our daily newsletter. There we'll go to questions.

[Clark Howard]

Good pitch.

[Krista]

Well, it's true, don't you agree?

[Clark Howard]

It is true.

[Krista]

David in Wisconsin says my financial advisor with Prudential has been converted to a statutory agent slash independent contractor of another company that I showed you here.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah.

[Krista]

His primary activity now is selling insurance products of affiliated investment properties product sponsors other than and including Prudential as well. My question is, is he still considered a fiduciary with my best interest at heart?

[Clark Howard]

Okay. So the company that he's now selling for, they are not fiduciaries. Normally they are. A lot of times they hold themselves out is something known as fee based, which means that they sell commission products. They are not fiduciaries in that capacity. And even when you were having this financial advisor through Prudential, you were paying exceptionally high fees and commissions on the investments. And besides, insurance products are not investments. Let me make this clear, they are not investments. I would recommend strongly, David, that you consider hiring a fee only financial planner. You will pay him or her a fee usually set at 1% unless you go to Vanguard when it's 0.3% less than a third the cost and you have a fiduciary and they help you not. It's not really about picking investments. That is, I mean a computer can pick investments. It's much more about your overall picture that you're meeting your goals, that you have your will up to date and properly done. All the things involved with building a financial future, being prepared for it and later in life that things are tidied up just right. If one spouse survives, the other is often the case. Or if ultimately you want money to go to kids or grandkids or whatever. That's where you're really going, to a financial planner or advisor. You don't really need a financial advisor to pick this fund or that fund or the other fund. But when you do hire someone, or even if you do it yourself, you do not want to pay commissions for the funds you go into, whatever they are. Second, the ongoing expenses matter so much. Insurance companies are a trifecta of terrible for investing because you pay very high commissions, you pay very high fees, and you're dealing with someone who is not operating as a fiduciary, meaning that they are allowed to do what's best for them, not what's best for you. That's a bad trifecta from the insurance industry.

[Krista]

Okay. Vincenza in Montana says this is an opinion question. You said be wary of the results of search engines to get contact info about a company, bank, investments, et cetera. I like going to Maps on my iPhone and I search for the company there. There's usually a link to get to their website. Would you say this is another good way of trying to reach the actual company you're intending to contact, or is this also not safe? Thank you. You're my lifesaver. Literally, savings for my life.

[Clark Howard]

Well, you are so kind. And my wife was watching last night. I think it's called A River Runs Through It. There was a movie from a long time ago. She was just mesmerized watching the scenery. Montana said, honey, we've been to Montana several times. It is gorgeous. Let's go again. And I got no response because I've been waiting, waiting to go back to Montana. But to your question, no, do not trust what you see on Maps. Whether it's Apple Maps links there, or Google Maps links, any of that. What I want you to do when you need to make sure you're calling the proper phone number or calling the proper address. Once you go to the actual website on your iPhone, go to your Safari, or if you use Chrome on your iPhone, go there and go to the website of that financial institution and find the contact number on their website. You cannot trust what you see in search results of any kind right now. As best I can tell, when you're searching for contact information for a company or even the website of a company, you got to look close and see where you're at to make sure it really is that company and not somebody trying to play games with you. Why is this such an area for scammers? Because it's a direct path to stealing your money.

[Krista]

Chelsea in Georgia Says, why is my well known high end auto dealership skimping on customer service? I have been a customer of theirs for nearly 20 years, buying two cars. Previously, when I took my car in for service, they supplied a loaner or courtesy Uber. Of course, both have to be prearranged. Well, two weeks ago when I scheduled my annual service, I was offered an Uber. However, when I arrived, I was told that this service is no longer available. You can imagine my shock and disappointment, especially since they failed to contact me to inform me of this change. What's going on? Can you suggest reputable mechanics to avoid dealing with pricey dealerships who could care less about their customers?

[Clark Howard]

So Chelsea, what's so interesting about this is this has been a incredible customer retention and sales technique for European luxury brands. To put you in a loaner and think what's happening in that loaner? It says on the side, courtesy of blah blah blah, dealership brand, blah blah blah. But what is the greatest Trojan horse of that?

[Krista]

It's a newer car and you might want to buy one.

[Clark Howard]

Exactly. It is a phenomenal sales technique. But in addition, it's how they get you to come back, even out of warranty, to the overpriced service bays of a dealer instead of to an independent mechanic. So your question answers itself. You want to start looking online. It's not bad to look at Yelp for this. For example, there are specialty repair facilities for virtually every Japanese and European brand that are places that are independent, that all they work on is your brand of European vehicle or your brand a Japanese vehicle. At a good one, you talk directly to the mechanic who's doing the work. They don't have commission sales writers like they have at a traditional dealer's service center where when you come up, they have a gentleman or lady who talks to you, smiles says, okay, well sign right here. These are the things we think you should do. You're never talking to whatever mechanic is doing the work on your vehicle. If there's a problem with your vehicle, that's a serious problem because what the service writer writes is not enough for the mechanic to understand what it is you're experiencing with your vehicle. So I would say that that free loaner is the most expensive free thing you could have. That you're better off with better service and potentially better prices. But the better service is more important on having a vehicle serviced or repaired by going to an independent that relies not on a national or international manufacturer helping that place build up business, but requires that they do a good job and get repeat customers time after time after time. And that concludes our first episode of 25. I want to emphasize again that I hope that your holiday season was wonderful, that you had a joyous and happy New Year. I know that I certainly did, and that 25 is a great year for you. And whatever New Year's resolutions you set physically or fiscally, be realistic about them and have them be measurable so that you set out goals that aren't abandoned in a few weeks, but are ones you can build on for a better you and a better wallet. Know what we're about all year long and every year giving you ideas, strategies for you to save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off.