Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 159: Redefining the Car-Buying Experience: Storm Buchanan's Journey with Mr D's Automotive
What makes Storm Buchanan with Mr. D’s Automotive a good neighbor?
What if the car-buying experience could actually be enjoyable and trustworthy? That's exactly what Storm Buchanan from Mr D's Automotive in Piney Flats, Tennessee, is redefining in the world of used car sales. Join us as Storm shares his journey through family traditions, turning skeptical views of car dealerships on their head with personalized service and honest transactions. From his grandfather's legacy to his own resilient path, Storm offers a refreshing take on what it means to be a local business deeply embedded in community values.
Discover how overcoming personal hardships has shaped Storm's unwavering commitment to a customer-first approach at Mr D's Automotive. We explore how this small-scale dealership excels with competitive pricing devoid of hidden fees, while Storm unpacks misconceptions about used car salesmen and shares practical tips for prospective buyers. Plus, get a peek into Storm's personal life and his love for basketball and fishing, adding a human touch to this episode that promises more than just car talk. Whether you're in the market for a vehicle or just enjoy a good success story, this conversation with Storm Buchanan is one you won’t want to miss.
To learn more about Mr. D’s Automotive go to:
https://www.mrdsautomotive.net/
Mr. D’s Automotive
423-391-8044
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monning.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of the Tri-Cities. So today we've got a very special guest with us and I'm thrilled to have him here and anxious to learn about him and his business. And I'm sure be too, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, mr Storm Buchanan of Mr D's Automotive. Storm, welcome to the show. Nice to meet you all. So, like I said, we're very excited to learn all about you and your business. So, if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about Mr D's?
Speaker 3:Well, mr D's is a little car lot we have in Piney Flats, tennessee, 5157 Highway 11E. I think the main thing that stands out with us is you know we're able to cut people better deals because we're a very small staff so we can really get to that competitive nature of individuals buying cars off individuals. We're the closest dealership you can get to that. And also also, you know we don't have any hidden fees or docking fees. You know it's strictly vehicle plus the tax. You know, and that's because we have to collect the tax because we're a licensed business, you know. Other than that, you know there's no hidden fees.
Speaker 3:We don't do any any crazy dock fees where you know you buy a car you come in eight thousand dollar car. By the time you're out it's a ten thousand dollar car. It's strictly price we agreed on on the vehicle plus the tax and we basically pay the sales tax for you. It comes with two month temp tags, you know. And uh, we can also do warranties and stuff like that for anyone that wants to purchase warranty, which is actually quite cheap compared to other ones. You know we can do 12 12s, which is 12 months for 12,000 miles for about $1,000. And that usually makes a deal go way smoother and it gives you the comfortability of knowing, hey, I'm covered in case something happens.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and the price we negotiate, being the price, is really important to me. I'm sure it is to a lot of people instead of you know asking this but by the time you said, when you get out of the dealership, you're paying another couple of grand and yeah, that's not good. Well, Storm, how did you, how did you get into the car business?
Speaker 3:My dad and my grandfather have always been in the car business, either selling cars or working on cars. So I kind of just followed suit, started working on cars you know I enjoyed it and stuff and then eventually just moved into selling cars. I've been doing it for right at a year now here and then it's been an experience. You know it's kind of a sink or swim. You know I pretty much started off not knowing a whole lot about exactly how to do the process and stuff, but I picked up on it quick and been able to thrive with it for the first year and hopefully every year following awesome.
Speaker 2:So it's a family affair. Several generations now. Very cool, very cool, well, storm. What are some myths or misconceptions in the used car business?
Speaker 3:Well, you know there's a typical stigmatism that every car salesman is just trying to get money out of you any way they can. You know, short you in any way they can and stuff like that. You know it's been like that for a long, long time and I want people to think different of it, as I see us as experts and trying to get you the best deal possible and the and questions about the vehicle. You know a lot of people probably in this industry don't know a lot about vehicles and how they run and different little things like that. So I feel like that's a key thing is knowing about the vehicle, being able to explain to them and being able to get them financed Because, you know, not everyone can afford a $10,000 car straight out of cash, afford a $10,000 car straight out of cash.
Speaker 3:So you got to really walk them through the process because a car purchase may be an everyday thing for me dealing with and stuff, but most people I think the statistic is about every three years someone upgrades or moves into a different vehicle. So it's always a big thing for them and you got to make them know hey, I'm here to help you and I want you to have the best possible experience. So you'll come back, because a lot of people you go to a dealership, you're going to want to buy that vehicle and you want to leave a good, lasting impression so they can come back in that next three or however many years before they're ready to upgrade. And hopefully they come back to us because I gave them the experience, the trust, the friendship that I was able to build them in.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Customer service means everything. Absolutely. Do what you say and say what you're going to do.
Speaker 3:Uh-huh, honesty and transparency is number one. You have to be honest and transparent about everything you know about the vehicle.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. Outside of work Storm, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:For fun I play basketball with some of my friends from high school. We've been, you know, probably two, three times a week, of course, here recently it's been a little cold and rainy, but you know, when summertime comes around I like to go shoot ball with friends, catch up with them and stuff like that, and then, uh, been getting into fishing here recently. I've been off and on with it growing up, but here recently I've been going fishing more with friends. You know it's just a nice peaceful, relaxing, can kind of just disconnect from you know, the real world, just be out in nature and enjoy yourself.
Speaker 3:What kind of fishing uh, trout fishing, mainly a couple bass fish. Uh, maybe go out to south holston or something like that and try to catch something big. I think the biggest fish I ever caught was a catfish and it was probably about two feet long, about maybe 10, 12 pounds. I was pretty proud of that.
Speaker 2:Caught in a little creek oh yeah absolutely well, man, the south holston is packed full. That's trophy water, man, there's some big trout in there, big brown trout, you fly fish.
Speaker 3:I've never tried fly fishing.
Speaker 2:It looks difficult, uh, usually just, you know, open face, rod and kind of get out there and go well, I, I learned how to got to turn me into a fly fisherman about 20 years ago and uh, I said, same thing looks hard.
Speaker 2:And he said look, it doesn't have to be pretty, just get it where you want it to be and I can do that so, especially in these small, you know, up in the mountains, these small creeks and, uh, small rivers, you know it's you, the mountains, these small creeks and small rivers, you know you can't really cast real hard anyway unless you're on South. Austin.
Speaker 1:So very cool Very cool.
Speaker 2:Well, let's switch gears for just a minute. Storm can you describe a hardship or a life challenge you ever came and how it made you stronger coming out the other side?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, yeah, I feel comfortable sharing that. Actually my Nana got cussed at me when I was young so it was a hardship, you know not having, I guess, a typical mother father kind of relationship growing up, so it dealt with a lot of hardship dealing with that and kind of at the same time was going through puberty and different things like that. So you know it was a hardship, but any hardship you can turn into a positive. You know everyone's kind of dealt like a certain deck of cards in life and you got to use that deck of cards to the best of your abilities. So I view any hardship or negative thing as a positive thing in a sense. You know there's no point looking at it and being sad or being like, oh man, like why is my life like this no-transcript, very, very positive outlook.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it. So, uh, stormy if. If you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about mr d's automotive, what would that be?
Speaker 3:uh, just, you know someone you can come into and talk, talk to about vehicles, even if you're not coming to buy from me specifically, you don't like the vehicles on the lot. You know. I don't care to give you know any piece of advice and stuff because it can be a scary purchase. From the research I've done, you know in most people's lives it's about the second biggest purchase you make in your life is a vehicle, and then house, housing is number one, you know. So just try to give my expertise on what I know and how long I've been in the industry, either working, working on cars or selling cars, just trying to be a friend out there, not someone that's just trying to grab every little dollar out of your pocket. You know, just trying to be a nice local business, help the community out in any way.
Speaker 3:We can, you know, and give great car prices. You know, like I said, we don't do any extra fees or anything like that trying to milk every little dollar out of you. We pretty much sell cars at what an individual would probably sell them at. So you're basically buying off someone. You can go on Facebook Marketplace, for example, buy a car. We kind of have the same amount of pricing and stuff like that, and we can be super competitive where we're a small dealership, where we don't have a chain of command of 20 different people, so we can give you the best car prices, bar none, that's a.
Speaker 2:That's a great thing to remember, because on most dealerships you walk in and you got a salesperson that you know beats you, beats you to the before you can get in the door. He's out the parking lot and then says uh, you know, well, we're asking this much and you're like well, is that the best you can do? I'll be back. You know that they got to go check with somebody and come back. You don't have to do that, apparently.
Speaker 3:No, I do everything from cleaning the cars to selling the cars, to doing the paperwork, financing I do it all, so you only will have to deal with me, no one else Awesome.
Speaker 3:Awesome, well, if any of our listeners are interested to come look at a vehicle or they check out something you got online. How can they learn more? Our website, wwwmrdsautomotivenet, has all our inventory on the website currently, right now, with the pricing, and you can fill out applications. If you are looking for credit, usually we do credit acceptance local lenders or your personal bank. You know, obviously I always try to advise going to your credit union because they're going to give you the best rates. You know I'm trying to fight for you. I'm trying to give you the best deal possible so you can build your future and you're not stuck in a car payment Because you know insurance is high, especially when you finance a car getting full coverage insurance. Sometimes those payments are higher than the actual car itself. So I try to get that deal done as cheaply, get the monthly payment as cheap as possible so you're able to afford it and being able to possibly build your credit from it or anything like that, so you can make bigger purchases in the future Awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, storm, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you being on the show and telling us all about your dealership and and we wish you and your family and Mr D's automotive all the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Awesome, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. It's kind of out of left field. I wasn't. Awesome, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. It's kind of out of left field, I wasn't. You know, usually you get a call like, hey, you want to be on a podcast. You kind of think, oh, is this a scam or something like that. So I'm really happy I went out, did it. You know, it feels, feels good to be able to talk to you. You know you're super friendly guy and what I could tell from the brief conversation we've had before we started the podcast.
Speaker 2:And the podcast, and I really appreciate you having me on Absolutely and and, uh, appreciate you saying that, and same to you, and maybe we can have you back one day.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, always. I'm always open for invites. I appreciate it a bunch.
Speaker 2:All right, man, you have a great rest of the week.
Speaker 3:You too, sir.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP. Try dash citiescom, the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.