ICYMI: My New Song, They Came Here For The Soccer

.

World Cup is over and I’m sure all of our guests have returned to their homelands. I have never watched much soccer before but watched many of these games and I must say, I am a fan. I have respect for the physical abilities of the players and the stamina they showed. All indications are our foreign guests were respectful and in awe of America. What a joy to see them celebrate their victories and to genuinely have a good time. I believe they all think differently about America today than before they got here.

This prompted my first song on our soccer guests: Why Can’t Everybody See It asked the question: If the people from all parts of the world can see what a great country we have, why can’t WE see the same thing? If you missed that song, you can hear it by clicking here →

I published that one on June 26^th and as the games started to wind down to the World Cup Championship, I did a follow-up song titled: They Came Here For The Soccer. The motivation behind this one was simply that these visitors came to America, but we were the ones who learned from them. Perhaps we learned we take things for granted, the little things we don’t even notice. Blessings they saw, but we ignore every single day. Let that sit with you for a minute and reflect as you read the lyrics I wrote.

Here is the link, do with it as you wish. Feel free to share it with anyone you think might enjoy it or perhaps needs to realize what a great country we live in.

This is my gift to you. You can listen to it and read the lyrics by clicking on the photo below.

  Straight Talk and Honest Answers

CarPro Advice:
Think Twice About Salvage Title Vehicles (With Audio)

A caller to the radio show last Saturday, Chris in Sacramento, found himself in a situation that stayed with me. He was trying to make a careful decision about his next vehicle for his family, but the vehicle he was considering, a late model Kia Telluride with a super-low price, was just how it sounded. Too good to be true. It had a salvage title after being declared a total loss following a collision.

I advised him not to buy it, of course, and explained the dangers of the purchase. 

A salvage-title vehicle can look like the answer when money is tight. Sometimes, however, the least expensive vehicle to buy can become the most expensive one to own.

Listen to the Call and read my advice about the dangers of Salvage Titled Vehicles→

  U.S. Auto Market  

Top 25 Best-Selling Vehicles In America Through June
Read more→

June New Car Prices
Hold Steady
Read more→

Is Lucid Considering Bankruptcy?

Read more→

 Dealership Voice Of The Customer Google Review Study

Read more→

 Historic Pontiac Headquarters Being Demolished 

Credit: GM Archives.

This is not happy news for me, to be honest. The last remnants of what was once my favorite GM brand is being destroyed. Yes, another piece of General Motors history is headed for the wrecking ball, and for longtime Pontiac fans like your friendly content provider and radio show host, this one is going to hurt.

 Introducing CarPro Sweeps! Win A '26 Corvette!

We're excited to announce the launch of CarPro Sweeps - formerly Vehicle for Good!  

CarPro Sweeps was created to give everyday people a fun, exciting opportunity to win incredible vehicles and life-changing prizes through a sweepstakes experience they can trust.

You can enter now to win a 2026 Corvette Stingray or $40K cash! Our 30X bonus entries ends Sunday! Click here to enter! →

The sweepstakes began July 20, 2026 ends 11:59:59 p.m. CST on November 1, 2026!

Check out past sweepstakes winners here! →

 You Ask, CarPro Answers

Q: What Is The Out-The-Door Price On A Vehicle?

• For Jerry's Answer Click Here →

Q: How Do I Negotiate
A Car Price?

• For Jerry's Answer Click Here →

  Legal Matters

Suits & Settlements is a weekly feature highlighting recent automotive-related legal matters. Whether they impact customers and drivers, a specific automaker or have wider implications for the industry, they are important lawsuits and settlements I think you'll find as interesting as I do.

In this week’s Suits & Settlements, you’ll find the following reports:

• Lawsuit Says Ford Should Share Tariff Refund With Buyers
• Widow Sues GM Over Fatal Chevy Traverse Crash
• Mercedes Wins Dismissal of Shattering Sunroof Lawsuit
• FCA Wins Dismissal of Warranty Extension Lawsuit

Read more→

Quick Shifts

ChatGPT Plus/CarPro.

Each week I bring you the top stories in the auto industry along with my commentary or sometimes amusing thoughts about the craziness that goes on in the world of cars.

Stories you’ll find today:

• Worst License Plate Lottery Ever
• Four Tahoes, $4.5 Million?
• Anger Management Would've Been Cheaper
• The Internet Held a Group Therapy Session

Read more → 

  Weekly Recalls

• • • • BMW **FIRE RISK WARNING/PARK OUTSIDE** →
        • BMW/Toyota **FIRE RISK** →
      • Ford  **CRASH RISK**→    
        
      • Ford/Lincoln  → 
      • Hyundai  →    
        
      • Nissan **CRASH RISK**→  
        
        
      • Evenflo Car Seats→  
        

 Incentives Guide

Here you'll find our incentives and rebate guide which includes a link to every major manufacturer’s incentive page. Just enter your zip code to find the current incentives offered in your area. 

Current incentives By Automaker →

  Sell Or Consign Your Car For Top Dollar!

I hear from a lot of people who end up with an extra car for some reason. Sometimes it is due to a death in the family, or someone gets transferred overseas. I’ve seen many occasions where this happens. Well, now, we have two ways to dispose of a vehicle.

GiveMeTheVin has been with us for quite some time. In fact, GiveMeTheVin founder John Clay Wolfe and I have been friends for over 30 years. His team is made up of terrific buyers who make the transactions very easy. They have helped many of our listeners and I’ve had terrific feedback. They're great, too, if you need a good idea of what your car is truly worth and as I always say, a car is only worth what someone is willing to write a check for it. GiveMeTheVin writes checks, and lots of them.

Now, if you have more time, RetailMyRide.com is now an official partner of the Car Pro Show and they take cars on consignment. You’ve heard me recommend them in the past most likely, and they have helped many of our listeners. They market the car at all the right places, they get top dollar for it, take a little off the top, and you get the rest. It’s that simple. No people coming to your house, calling or texting, no worrying about how to complete the paperwork, they do all that for you.

So, the question is: Do you want quick cash or the most cash? We’ve got you covered either way with CarPro AppraisalPro OR CarPro ConsignPro.

It all starts at CarPro.com, click SELL A CAR at the top, or click here →

   Check Out Our Newsletter Archive Page!

Go to the Newsletter Archive →

  Classic Car Contest: Win An AutoHeatShield!

  Exclusive Approved Products & Services

  Get Your Car Pro Show T-Shirts, Hats and Mugs

  Subscribe to the free DFW Newsletter 

  Miss the Show? Catch Our Podcast!

  Searching For A New Or Used Vehicle? 

  You Have 5 Hours To Call The Show! 

  Now Airing On KABC +78 New Markets!

  Jerry's Must-Watch Video of the Week! 

  Todd's Video of the Week! 

  True Stories From A Former Car Dealer 

  Closing Message From Jerry

 Lessons I Learned From
Alan Mulally

 Maybe you haven’t heard his name before, but Alan Mulally did not come from the automobile business. When Ford named him president and CEO in 2006, he came from Boeing, where he had helped lead development of the 777 and later ran Boeing Commercial Airplanes. There were plenty of people inside and outside Ford who wondered whether an airplane executive could possibly understand the car business, its dealers, its unions, its century of tradition, and all the personalities that came with it.

I had already sold my dealerships and left the retail automobile business by then, so I never worked with Alan and never sat across from him as a Ford dealer or as Ford National Dealer Council Chairman. I served under the curse of Jac Nassar. I did, however, follow Alan's career and every move he made very closely. I also had the opportunity to spend an hour interviewing him in 2012 when he passed through Dallas at Love Field. I have interviewed a lot of important people over the years, but that hour stayed with me because Mulally had an unusual combination of confidence, optimism, discipline, and humility. He had led enormous organizations, yet he did not carry himself as though he was the only intelligent person in the room.

Mulally arrived at Ford when the company was in serious trouble. Ford lost $12.6 billion in 2006, its operations were fragmented around the world, and different regions often developed different vehicles and protected their own turf. The company had accumulated brands, products, facilities, and layers of management that made it harder to move quickly. Ford had a proud history, but pride alone was not going to save it.

One of Mulally’s boldest moves came almost immediately. Ford raised $23.5 billion in new liquidity, secured by virtually all of the company’s major assets. It was an enormous gamble, and at the time many people saw it as a sign of desperation. Mulally saw it as the financial runway Ford needed to restructure the company and keep investing in new products, even if the economy became much worse.

The economy did become much worse.

When the financial crisis hit and vehicle sales collapsed, General Motors and Chrysler entered government-supported bankruptcies. Ford suffered terribly too, but it did not go through bankruptcy or accept the same federal rescue funding. The financing Mulally arranged before the crisis gave Ford options at a time when options were in very short supply. That taught me one of the first great lessons I took from him: you do not prepare for the storm after the rain starts.

That lesson applies in business and in life. When things are going well, it is easy to assume they will continue going well. That is when people overextend themselves, companies become careless, and leaders postpone difficult decisions. Mulally did not wait for Ford’s circumstances to dictate the plan. He acted while he still had enough control to create choices for the future.

His turnaround strategy became known as “One Ford.” The idea sounded simple: one team, one plan, one goal, with everyone working together to build a complete family of competitive vehicles for customers around the world. In practice, it meant dismantling the internal kingdoms that had developed over decades. Ford could no longer afford to have different regions duplicating engineering work, protecting their own products, and competing with one another for resources. Mulally sold off Jaguar and Land Rover, later sold Volvo, reduced Ford’s Mazda interest, and concentrated the company’s energy on rebuilding the Ford brand.

What impressed me was not merely that he had a plan. Every company has plans. Mulally made sure everybody knew the plan, understood the plan, and was measured against the same plan. He held weekly Business Plan Review meetings where senior leaders reported their progress using a simple color system. Green meant the plan was on track, yellow indicated concern, and red meant there was a serious problem.

At first, almost everything reportedly showed green, even though Ford was losing billions of dollars. That told Mulally something important: the executives were afraid to tell the truth. They had been conditioned to believe that admitting a problem would make them the problem, and they'd be shown the door.

When Mark Fields finally presented an item marked red, Mulally did not attack him, embarrass him, or begin looking for someone to blame. He applauded. Then he asked the team how they could help.

That may be the most important leadership lesson I learned from Alan Mulally. If people are punished for bringing you bad news, eventually they will stop bringing it. The bad news will still exist; you simply will not know about it until it becomes a crisis. Mulally created an environment where problems could be exposed, discussed, and solved without turning every meeting into a hunt for the guilty party.

Looking back on my dealership years, I can see how valuable that principle is. A dealer cannot fix a customer complaint nobody reports, an inventory problem managers try to hide, or an expense that gets buried until the end of the month. I always wanted people to bring me problems, but Mulally helped me understand the other half of that equation: a leader must respond in a way that makes people willing to bring the next problem too.

That lesson follows me onto the radio every Saturday. Callers sometimes begin by apologizing because they made a mistake or failed to ask a question before signing the papers. I cannot help them by making them feel foolish. I need the truth about what happened, because only then can we determine whether there is a solution. The same principle guides this newsletter. When facts do not support what I initially believed, the facts have to win. Protecting my pride would not help the reader who depends on me for an honest answer.

Mulally also understood the value of keeping a complicated organization focused on a few clear priorities. Ford had thousands of problems, but attempting to solve all of them independently would have created more confusion. “One Ford” gave the entire company a common direction. That affected the vehicles too, as Ford increasingly developed global platforms and products instead of creating unrelated models for every market. Resources could be concentrated on making fewer products better.

I have carried that lesson into my own work. The Car Pro Show covers an enormous range of subjects: new vehicles, used vehicles, financing, leasing, insurance, maintenance, recalls, dealers, warranties, and consumer protection. It would be easy to get buried in the details and lose sight of the mission. The mission is actually quite simple: help people make better automotive decisions by giving them straight talk and honest answers. When I am deciding whether to discuss a subject on the air or publish something in this newsletter, that basic purpose still serves as my compass.

Mulally’s optimism was another quality I admired, but it was not blind optimism. He did not pretend Ford’s problems were smaller than they were. He put them on the screen every week for everyone to see. His optimism came from believing that honest people, working from the same facts and toward the same goal, could solve difficult problems together. That is very different from simply telling everyone to remain positive while the building burns.

By 2010, Ford reported net income of $6.6 billion. By the time Mulally retired in 2014, the company had recorded 19 consecutive profitable quarters. Ford had survived one of the worst periods in the history of the automobile industry, improved its products, strengthened its brand, and changed a corporate culture many people once believed could not be changed.

Alan Mulally did not accomplish that by being the loudest person in every meeting or pretending he had every answer. He created clarity, demanded honesty, encouraged teamwork, and kept everyone focused on the customer and the plan. He proved that a leader can be demanding without being demeaning and optimistic without ignoring reality.

I spent only one hour with Alan Mulally at Love Field, but I continued learning from him long after that interview ended. His example reminded me to prepare before trouble arrives, to make it safe for people to tell the truth, to put the mission ahead of individual egos, and to remember that leadership is not about having all the answers. It is about creating an environment where the right answers can emerge.

After our interview and he had given me his cell phone number, I asked him for a favor. It was a few months after we met. My son BJ sold Fords for Five Star Ford in Carrollton. He was in the hospital with heart failure at the young age of 29. We were waiting for a donor heart, and I asked Alan if he could call his #1 salesperson at Sam Pack’s Five Star Ford. He did. Can you imagine the thrill my son had at getting a call from the CEO at Ford Motor Company? He was on a plane and had been to the Ford assembly plant in China. As thoughtful as he was, he called me first to make sure it was a good time to call my son. That is vintage Alan Mulally.

Alan turns 81 on August 4^th, and I guarantee you he still has the energy of someone half his age. He is still a much sought after speaker and although his methods of running a business seem to have faded in Dearborn, I have no doubt in my mind Alan could walk in there today and make it a better car company, and he could do it quickly.

One hour of my life, the one with Alan Mulally, had a profound effect on me. I’ve met many famous people, a couple of Presidents of the United States, and lots of CEOs. I will never forget his firm handshake, his engaging smile, and how he tried to put me at ease. We had scheduled a half-hour interview, but we were still talking after an hour. It seemed like 15 minutes at the most and what I got out of it will last me a lifetime.

Alan’s lessons affected the way I viewed business, the way I approached life, and the responsibility I feel every time the red on-air light comes on in the radio studio. I may never have worked for Alan Mulally, but I consider him one of my teachers.

The best lessons sometimes come from people who never knew they were teaching you.

Straight Talk and Honest Answers — always.

Kim Komando's Quiz Answer:

C) Up to 24 hours. Yep, on iPhone 11 and later, your phone can still be located for up to 24 hours after it’s been powered off, as long as Find My Network is enabled. If the battery is fully drained and the phone enters Power Reserve, that window is shorter at about five hours.

The phone essentially becomes an AirTag. Any passing iPhone, iPad or Mac picks it up and reports the location, anonymously. In other words: Your dead phone may still be doing more networking than most people at a conference.

Check Settings > your name > Find My, and make sure both Find My Network and Send Last Location are switched on. Do it before you need it.