Sally French (10:04)

All right, here's a question from Steve in Connecticut. And this relates to cars. We have a 2006 Honda Accord EX with 227,800 miles on it. It's not our baby, it's not our primary car. It needs to have a new catalytic converter at a cost of between 2,900 and 3,350 to be able to pass Connecticut emissions and be able to renew its registration. We have no other problems with this car. Do you think it would be worth the cost of repair? If we don't repair it, we would be looking to replace this car in May of this year. Historically, this model is lasting over 300,000 miles.

Clark Howard (10:40)

Yeah, and, and this car would have a value still significantly higher than the cost the catalytic converter. But catalytic converter money is like throwing money down a rat hole. I mean, you got, you'll get not $0.01 additional value out of your Honda Accord when you do eventually sell it with that new catalytic converter versus not having it. Because there are so many states and areas that don't have emission testing, you'd be able to sell that vehicle into one of those. But not having a payment, you think about, okay, so if you spend three grand on this catalytic converter, how many months payments is that on a typical vehicle loan? You know, four.

Sally French (11:29)

Oh.

Clark Howard (11:29)

So all you have to do is get four more months out of the Cord Ex and you're pretty much even with having done the catalytic converter on it. And since the car is so mechanically sound, other than catalytic converter problem, I think you'd be making a good decision to do the catalytic converter. Also, you say you drive it very little. Many states have an exemption when there's an emission problem. If you can prove mileage of less than maybe 2500 miles a year. I don't know how few you're driving it now per year, but you should see if Connecticut has an exemption for low mileage vehicles. Low mileage use vehicles like 200 miles a month or less of driving. If you can get the vehicle registered and avoid having to replace the catalytic converter.

Sally French (12:27)

Dwight in Maryland says, I've been a listener for years and have benefited immensely. Thanks for keeping this going. I have been an EV owner since 2016 when I bought my first Model S. I'm planning to trade in my 2021 Model X for a 2025 Gen 2 Rivian 1S, but I am struggling on when to make the switch. If I buy now, I can take advantage of Rivian's incentives including a 1.99% financing for a dual max performance.

Clark Howard (12:54)

That's going to be an expensive Rivian you're looking at.

Sally French (12:57)

Though I would prefer to wait for a used gen 2 R1s. I am concerned about the trade in value of my Model X dropping substantially. Should I wait until the late spring to make the switch to a used R1s or swing now with the current Rivian incentives for a new one while taking advantage of my Model X's current value?

Clark Howard (13:17)

Do we know how many miles the Model X has?

Sally French (13:19)

PS no, but he said PS. My 2016 Model S is still kicking at 163,000 miles. Do you think Rivian's will hold up?

Clark Howard (13:29)

Go read. I was just talking at the top of this about the Consumer Reports annual issue. Read what they say about Rivians. They're fun, but read Consumer Reports reliability report and stuff on the Rivian before you go forward with the R1s. Second thing, the value of Tesla already they took big hits in the first 24 months. They depreciate generally more than other vehicles based on the cycle of when you bought potentially in 21. So I don't think you have to worry as much from here these number of years later that you've got a certain flatlining to the depreciation of your ex moving from here. And so if you want to wait for a use Rivian, I think you'll be rewarded because I don't think the value of your ex will decline at any large rate month by month by month that you would wait. On the other hand, if you just love the R1s, you want to get one. They've got the 2% financing, 1.99 rounded up to 2 and you can afford to do it. Have a great time.

Sally French (14:54)

Okay. This came in from Mark in Florida. It's a cautionary tale. I engaged Hertz via X about an issue we had with tolls and then I didn't like the way they responded. I went public on X with my dissatisfaction. Then I got a response from a different Hertz account asking me for the details and the reason for my dissatisfaction. I responded to them in a dm. They asked me for my phone number where they could reach me. I gave it to them. Within the next five minutes I got a call from I think it was a 234 area code. The caller ID said something like customer support. It didn't say anything about Hertz. I spoke to them. They asked again for the details of the incident and I told them why I was unhappy. They were very solicitous and said they were going to make it right and they were going to give me a refund. Somewhere there I got suspicious. Then they said they were going to give me a link to download an app. That really set off alarm bells. And because I realized I didn't know who these people were, I said, can we do this without me downloading an app? His initial reaction was, yes, we can, but it's going to delay your refund by 60 days because we're going to have to do it by email. He said, do you want to be delayed 60 days? I said, yeah, that's okay. I can wait. Then he got annoyed and hung up. And I realized I'd come very close to being scammed. I thought I was okay because I had initiated contact, but then I realized I hadn't. At least not with these people.

Clark Howard (16:14)

Yeah, and thank you. I really appreciate you posting this because what happened once you went public on X with your complaint about Hertz, then you were fair game for people out there and a scammer went after you hard. So with Hertz, I can tell you by experience that we've heard from so many people, Hertz is a true customer no service organization. In fact, Hertz might win an annual award for customer no service. So with Hertz being so proud to treat people so badly who have problems with them, the one thing that I think may help is an organization I mentioned from time to time, elliot.org that has what they call executive level contacts at certain companies and they'll tell you if they are able to get results. That way it gets you outside the customer no service bureaucracy and may get your problem resolved with them. And I'd love to hear back from you if you try the elliot.org method of contacts that they can get you to and see if that does get this problem solved with Hertz that till this point has been unsolvable. And yes, maybe we should come up with our own hall of shame of companies with customer no service. Who knows? Coming up ahead, smart meters versus regular power meters at your house, smart plans versus dumb plans. What should you be doing?

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Megan Coyle (19:46)

This episode is brought to you by Indeed.

Clark Howard (19:49)

When your computer breaks, you don't wait for it to magically start working again. You fix the problem. So why wait to hire the people your company desperately needs? Use Indeed sponsored jobs to hire top talent fast and even better, you only pay for results. There's no need to wait. Speed up your hiring with a $75 sponsored job credit@ Indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Your power company likely has installed what are known as smart meters at your residence or your small business. Smart meters initially started appearing a good long while ago that eliminated the labor cost of meter readers for power companies and other utilities have put in that kind of smart meter. It means that they can read your meter remotely and don't have to dispatch someone. And that was what they meant first long ago by smart meters. But then things morphed and today's Smart meters can charge you for power by time of day, even minute by minute, because what you and I don't focus on is behind the curtain. What a power company pays for the power they sell to us changes depending on what kind of contracts they're in. Second by second, minute by minute, whatever. So more and more power companies are offering you and me the ability with these smart meters to pay time of use. And with us, it's not really possible for us to be able to with our busy lives to watch what power costs the power company minute by minute. But there are general patterns, general trends. And so a lot of power companies now offer time of use where? In the afternoon and hot parts of the country from like 2 to 7 in the afternoon, usually starting about May day through till October 1, depending on where you are in the country. From 2 to 7, the cost of power is through the roof and then before 2 o'clock, after 7 till about midnight, power is a much more reasonable rate. And then midnight to like 5, 6 or 7am Power is really cheap, maybe even free. Free to you. So that's the most common, and I'm simplifying these time of use things. Then, in addition to having the time of use, they may have a regular plan that just sets rates by typically time of year. And so during high demand periods, you pay more per kilowatt because it's costing them more to supply the power. But I don't mean by hour of the day, I mean just time of year. So which should you be in? Depends on your lifestyle. If you're gone all day long and you put in like a nest or any other kind of smart thermostat, and you turn the temperature way up in your home during the peak hours that they're charging the crazy high kilowatt cost per kilowatt, then a smart meter would work for you. If you're gone during those hours anyway, off at work or whatever, why should you be paying a price that would not benefit you? So you're the kind of person, you put in that smart thermostat, you drive down your consumption during those five or so hours of the day, you're going to save a lot of money on your power. What about a family with kids, huh? Forget it, Forget it. Doing a smart meter and a thing where people are in or out of the house, you got millions of loads of laundry to do and all that, a smart meter will be the death of your wallet. If you go on the smart plan that has the peaks and the off peaks, the roughly 8% of people who drive an electric vehicle. These time of use plans are fantastic because you, with your home charger, if you have one, you set the vehicle only to charge during the hours that you're paying a penny a kilowatt or you're having free overnight power or whatever, and then you're running your vehicle. Your energy costs for your vehicle go to near zero. You gotta know your circumstance to see if it's worth it for you to go on time of day, time of use plans. Otherwise, the simple regular plan is the smarter choice. Do you have a smart meter at your home?

Sally French (25:00)

No, I do not. I tried. The power company had a program that I tried and it did not work in my favor, so I stopped using it.

Clark Howard (25:09)

So I used one for four years where it was a different kind of thing they offered. I got a lower rate if I would allow during the summer that they could take control of my air conditioner during hot days, hot afternoons, and send the temperature soaring in the house. Let me tell you, Lane and the kids were not happy with me. I was much happier with my wallet because, yeah, you'd sweat a little, but it saved us a ton on our electric bill because of how much power companies pay per second for power during peaking times.

Sally French (25:48)

I mean, I could handle that during the day in the summer, but overnight I needed to be like an ICE locker, and I would never do that, honestly. Ken in Michigan says you need to.

Clark Howard (25:58)

Have the ICE batteries when those become available.

Sally French (26:01)

I do. I do. State Farm is offering TING fire safety devices to monitor my home and electrical system for free. The system uses a 24.7wi fi connection to talk with Tang. And it's supposed to provide early warning of potential electrical fire hazards. There's no insurance discount associated with it. Is this a good idea? And is there anything I should be aware of before signing up?

Clark Howard (26:23)

Take the ting. Take it from State Farm. My insurer requires it and doesn't pay for it. State Farm is paying for it. You take the ting because, I mean, think about it, what it does. It's going to let you know that there's a potential fire hazard with some part of your electrical or also notify, get you, you know, get early fire response if there is apparently a small fire going on in your home. I think the ting thing is, is great.

Sally French (26:58)

Take the ting. The ting.

Clark Howard (27:00)

Take the ting.

Sally French (27:01)

So many. Okay. Kimberly in Tennessee says, should I purchase a term life insurance policy for my spouse? He had a heart attack in October of 2024.

Clark Howard (27:09)

Oh, I hope he's okay.

Sally French (27:10)

He is doing fabulous and went from £256 to £220. I'm not working currently and he is retired. He will be 69, I'll be 60. This is our second marriage. We were both widowers. We have a will and zero debt. Any guidance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Clark Howard (27:27)

All right, so number one, awesome. You have no debt. The purpose of the insurance is replacement of income for the survivor. And 69 retired having had a heart attack. Insurance is very difficult to obtain. But then there's also what is the purpose? Does your husband have a pension that ceases that you'll no longer have that household income at the time of his passing? So if your life would face a financial hazard, in addition to your heart suffering over the loss of your husband, if your finances would really be in trouble, then there's an insurable needle. Whether that insurable need is insurable at 69 with a heart attack requires you to get a life insurance agent to see if it's possible to buy an affordable term life insurance policy. Now at 69, the term life policy that will normally be available if it is medically underwritten, meaning that they say okay, will write this policy will generally be at that age what's known as an annual renewable term, that the insurance price would go up each year as what's known as mortality risk increases as we age each year. A level term policy that I usually talk about for people in their working years is not generally something you can purchase in retirement, particularly approaching age 70. But the real question is, is there a need for replacement of income at the time of his death? What do you lose? I know your heart, but what do you lose financially at the time either or of you pass away? And that brings the other thing for you. At age 60, do you need a life insurance policy to protect him if you are outlived by him by some chance? What money would he need from you in order to pay for life moving forward?

Sally French (29:56)

Nick in Iowa says my question's about having enough long term disability coverage. My employer offers long term disability as part of my benefits and it has 60% income replacement until age 65. What should I consider for supplemental long term disability? Is it needed based on what I have through work, I've gotten some quotes and I've noticed a large increase in premium between having a 5 year benefit versus having it last until age 65. I would love to hear from you on what considerations should be looked at when adding this policy.

Clark Howard (30:29)

So Nick, great question from you about disability insurance. I'm almost never asked about disability insurance. Even though we're three times more likely to be disabled and unable to work in our prime working years than we are to pass away during those years, people are much more likely to have life insurance, not have disability. Congratulations that you work for an employer who's looking out for you and provides disability insurance to you as part of your benefits package. It's great. So the company that provides the disability insurance through your employer may offer the ability for you at much lower cost than you buying a supplemental disability insurance policy from somewhere else. They may offer you an option to add on Normally people by disability 60% disability 70% and 70 is usually where it ends up is the cap on what you can buy. In most states you may be able at a very low additional cost with the existing policy to add on that additional 10%. But because the supplemental is so expensive to buy elsewhere, if you cannot add on that additional 10% through your employer plan, I'd rather see you take those premiums and build them up over time in a rainy day account and a Roth IRA instead of buying a separate supplemental policy. Because the 60% disability policy till age 65 is already getting you most of the way there and your dollars would be more efficiently spent now going towards savings or going into my beloved tax free Roth ira. And I want to thank you so much for joining us on today's episode and I hope that you have learned something that will help you pack a punch in your wallet and know that if somebody is taking advantage of you, you have a money question you're trying to figure out. Whatever we offer one on one free advice 30 hours each week from our Team Clark Consumer Action center. You can see everything you need to know about getting that free one on one advice. If you go to clark.com cac and it's just one part of our empowerment zone so that you are in a position to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. Have a great day.

Unknown (33:20)

Today's episode is sponsored by Smart Travel, a new podcast from NerdWallet. I'm Megan Coyle. And I'm Sally French. We're NerdWallet travel writers who help you turn dreamtrips into trips you can actually afford. Because, let's be honest, dreamtrips are usually synonymous with spending money. But my dream is to not spend much money at all. That's where Smart Travel comes in. We break down the best ways to stretch your travel dollars, whether it's scoring an upgrade without selling your soul decod loyalty programs so you can actually get something out of them, or figuring out if that ultra discount airline ticket is too good to be true. It usually is. And while we're at it, we'll show you how to turn canceled flights into lounge dinners and free hotel stays. Spoiler it involves a lot of patience and a little bit of research. But don't worry, we've already done the heavy lifting. Because being financially savvy doesn't mean you have to skip out on an adventure. It just means you're the genius who paid less for it. Each week, we bring you travel news, expert insights, and even some of our own travel wins and mishaps, all so you can travel more while paying less. And hey, you'll even have some fun along the way. So if you're ready to make your travel budget work harder and smarter, follow Smart Travel on your favorite podcast app. First stop SmarterTravel. See you soon.