Teen Driving Dangers: What Parents Need to Know

The financial shock of adding a teenage driver to your insurance policy can feel like a sucker punch to your wallet. In Texas, parents face an average premium increase of 114% – the fourth highest in the nation according to WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo, our special guest this week. While Texas ranks middle-of-the-pack (28th) for teen driver fatalities, this statistic offers little comfort to parents navigating the treacherous waters of teen driving safety and skyrocketing insurance costs.

Diving into strategies that actually work, our hosts share personal experiences with driver education approaches across generations. We explore the evolving landscape from school-based programs taught by PE coaches to modern combinations of parent-led instruction and professional driving schools. The conversation reveals an important truth: teens often respond better to driving instruction from authority figures who aren't their parents. Meanwhile, insurance companies offer various paths to lower those painful premiums, including good student discounts and monitoring devices that track driving habits.

Beyond teen driving concerns, we cover breaking automotive news including a massive immigration enforcement operation at a Hyundai-LG plant in Georgia, the first-ever Vehicle Quality and Pricing Index showing Buick, Mazda and Toyota leading mainstream brands in reliability and affordability, and a shocking dealership embezzlement case in Midland where the former GM allegedly stole up to $150,000 through various fraudulent activities. Jeff rounds out the episode with a packed calendar of upcoming car shows and events across Texas. Whether you're raising a teen driver or simply passionate about automotive culture, this episode delivers valuable insights and entertaining discussion about the challenges facing today's drivers.

Join us live every Saturday morning 8-11am Central on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch and InWheelTime.com, or catch our podcasts on all major platforms.

The Lupe' Tortilla Restaurants
Lupe Tortilla in Katy, Texas

Gulf Coast Auto Shield
Paint protection, tint, and more!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

----  ----- 
Want more In Wheel Time car talk any time?
     
In Wheel Time is now available on Audacy!  

Just go to Audacy.com/InWheelTime where ever you are.
-----   -----
Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast provider for the next episode of In Wheel Time Podcast and check out our live multiplatform broadcast every Saturday, 10a - 12nCT simulcasting on Audacy, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and InWheelTime.com.

In Wheel Time Podcast can be heard on you mobile device from providers such as:

Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music Podcast, Spotify, SiriusXM Podcast, iHeartRadio podcast, TuneIn + Alexa, Podcast Addict, Castro, Castbox, YouTube Podcast and more on your mobile device.

Follow InWheelTime.com for the latest updates!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/InWheelTime

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inwheeltime/

https://www.youtube.com/inwheeltime

https://www.Facebook.com/InWheelTime

For more information about In Wheel Time Podcast, email us at 

info@inwheeltime.com

Transcript

Welcome to In Wheel Time

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a 30-minute mini version of the In Wheel Time Car Show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am.

Speaker 1 0:09

Central the award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show just ahead the best and worst dates for teen drivers. Uh-oh Plus, jeff will have the crews in on events calendars and I'll bring you some of the stories making automotive news headlines this week. Howdy Along with Mike out of this world, mars. We always need more Jeff Zekin. Chief Engineer David Ainsley is over here to my right. I'm Don Armstrong, glad that you could join us on this Saturday. We're coming to you live today Again from the Hemi Hideout. We mentioned it earlier. We're in a transition period with the studio in real time and we're going to be hopefully back in our new studio in a couple of weeks. But in the meantime, john Hovis, shelly Gates, out here at the Hemi Hideout have been so gracious to let us borrow the back closet. It's a nice back closet.

Speaker 2 0:55

It really is.

Teen Driver Safety in Texas

Speaker 1 0:56

We all wish we had this closet. Alright, I guess now from Wallet Hub is Chip Lupo. He's been with us before and, chip, it's good to have you with us again. Welcome, good morning guys. Good morning, how you been Good, how are y'all? Well, very well, thank you.

Speaker 2 1:21

So, gosh, I thought do we really need to have this downer talk, because?

Speaker 1 1:23

this is what it is Teenage driving in texas uh wow, uh. There's lots of lists here. Uh, teen driver fatalities per 100 000 teens were ranked 28th, but we're number one. Presence of distracted driving, texting while driving laws we're number one there. We're also number one in the impaired driving laws segment as well, so maybe you could explain all this to us well, sure, guys?

Speaker 3 1:58

well, the presence of the driving laws, what that means? That's not necessarily a ranking, that's an indicator. That's just an indication that your state has some sort of law in the books when it pertains to distracted driving holding cell phones. Here in South Carolina we just passed a pretty sweeping legislation against handheld driving. That went into effect September 1st and law enforcement was out there just looking for someone to have a cell phone in their hands and they're not messing around when it comes to that. But some things about Texas that I found interesting. And yes, there was a pretty alarming number of teen drinking and driving 43rd out of the 50 states and almost 7.5% at almost 7.5%. Yet, on the other hand, the maximum amount that you would get for a speeding ticket no, I'm sorry for not wearing a seatbelt $200. And that's tops in the country. So apparently drinking and driving is kind of going by the wayside there, but they're sure cracking down on seatbelts and fractions.

Speaker 1 3:07

That's rather odd, don't you think?

Speaker 3 3:09

I think it's kind of backwards, if you ask me.

Speaker 1 3:12

Yeah, exactly you know this team driver fatalities per 100,000 teams. Even though we're ranked 28th, that's still way too many.

Speaker 3 3:25

Way too many the thing about Texas, though. Overall, texas was right in the middle of the pack, 24th overall out of 50 states, so slightly above average, but there's some things in there that Texas really needs to take a look at. One thing I found interesting, and I'm sure if any of you gentlemen have experienced this at one thing I found interesting, and I'm sure if any of you gentlemen have experienced this have, if you've added a teen driver to your own insurance policy, well, in texas, if doing so is going to increase your premium by an average of 114 percent, that's fourth. That's fourth highest in the country.

Speaker 1 4:02

Ouch, I mean is there's no way to get around that. I mean driver education programs, adult driver in the front seat any way to get around 100% or more.

Speaker 3 4:16

Well, you would think so. But again, I mean, these rates are high for a reason. So apparently the state of Texas is looking at teen drivers at pretty high risk. So it's very important to not wait until driving schools. I mean parents should instill, you know, good driving habits in their children as soon as they're able. And yes, the the an abundance of driving schools will certainly help. But it would also kind of be to the parents advantage to kind of look at their own driving habits, because you want to have as clean a driving record as possible before you add a child on there, to kind of lessen the sticker shock there.

Speaker 1 4:53

Driving. Yes, we taught our girls how to drive, but we also send them to driving school, away from mom and dad, to get a different perspective. Because, you know, I may have some habits and it's been a while now but have some habits that I don't want to pass on to my daughters and I'm thinking that, you know, a good driving school for six weeks would not be a bad thing. So we bucked up, paid the money and took them to driving school.

Speaker 3 5:31

Well that, and teens are more likely to listen to authority figures who are adults other than their parents. So if it's coming from someone else, it's probably not a bad idea. We had ours growing up. Ours was part of the school system.

Speaker 3 5:44

It was an after school or a summer school program where you went for six weeks, which in some cases was okay, but then a lot of times you just got maybe a part-time football coach who was doing, who was part of the instructor, but for the most part it seemed. It seemed to work out pretty well.

Parent vs. Driving School Teaching

Speaker 1 6:00

Mine started in what we used to call junior high school and I was the first one to sign up and we did it in the school auditorium and, yes, it was one of the PE coaches that went along with driving instruction back in the day. And then we had the behind-the-wheel part of it in a Rambler Ambassador and there were four or five kids in the car and the instructor who had a break at his disposal on the passenger side, and I was never so scared of driving with this guy in my entire life. My mom had taught me pretty well how to drive and he managed to hit that brake more often than I did.

Speaker 2 7:02

What are you doing? Slam on the brake Scare you to death. That says a lot nowadays.

Speaker 3 7:07

Yeah. Yeah, we had a driving instructor. The one I had was an elderly gentleman who walked around with a cane, which was kind of unsettling in itself, but if you were in a car with him and if you did something wrong he would jab you on the side with his little walking stick as he was pounding on the brake.

Speaker 1 7:30

How about you Mars Did?

Speaker 4 7:31

they have any of that over there in Neiderville. Well, no, it's the same basic setup the PE coach, and if you messed up too bad when you got the PE, he'd let you know about it. You didn't want to do that. But more recently I've got three of my granddaughters teenagers. Well, one of them just turned 21. She got a 15% discount on her insurance because she turned 21.

Speaker 2 7:49

Dispaid, okay, yeah.

Speaker 4 7:51

The others and I'm really surprised. They went to the school, went to the driving school, got driving. Some of the stuff they learn now that we were never taught made a lot of sense, but then again they don't spend near as much time behind the wheel. It's up to the parents now to do the bulk of that.

Speaker 2 8:08

And they say nowadays a lot of folks are using the Uber. In certain cities, like the New Yorks and the Chicagos and things In LA, they're using the Ubers instead of having a home car.

Speaker 4 8:19

We actually have Uber now.

Speaker 2 8:21

They're not even getting their licenses.

Speaker 4 8:22

But it's definitely different for teenage drivers. Now, some of it's good, I think some of it's bad compared to what we have.

Speaker 1 8:31

Are there any discounts? For teenage drivers, even though it's 118% or whatever number you came up with. Are there any discounts for certain steps that you take? You know, have your car monitored by you.

Speaker 3 8:47

You know the bad guy in the sky or something. That depends on the insurance company. But as far as teenagers the one you just mentioned a second ago once you turn 21, if you have a clean driving record up to that point you can expect some considerable discounts. But again, a lot of that depends on the insurance companies. They'll be willing to cut you discounts if you agree to have a little monitor installed in your car that monitors how fast you're going, if you're braking too frequently, those types of things.

Speaker 1 9:11

Well, there's also some manufacturers Ford for instance. I know that they used to have a system that the parent could monitor their child driving the car. That has that system in there, and so you've got Big Brother looking over your shoulder all the time. You better not speed. They've also got speed limit devices in the vehicles and that sort of stuff. So there are some vehicles out there that have some sort of assistance for a parent to keep a.

Speaker 4 9:42

Keep a good eye on the kids. Another thing my insurance company came up with if your grade point the kid's grade point is good enough, you can get a discount.

Speaker 4 9:52

Yeah I'm sure that these different insurance companies have different incentives to nab you into their lair, if you will yeah, once they kind of get you and get you going, then you're, you're, you're there, because it gets very difficult to change. I mean not necessarily to say I want to drop you and go to another one. Go find somebody that's going to pick up that 18 year old 19 year old?

Speaker 1 10:17

well, the 16 year old. And the 16 year old is worse, yeah. So what's your suggestion? Chip, what do we do?

Speaker 3 10:27

well, again, it starts with um. As parents, it's a good idea to have a have a clean driving record before you add your, before you add your team. Now again, this is before, this is before, probably before they ever sit, put behind the, behind the car. Now, what's going to happen if your teen gets into an accident or gets a traffic violation or something really catastrophic a DUI? How much do you think your rates are going to go up then? So it's important, I think, for parents to have clean driving records and ongoing in and again. Insurance companies are all different, so shop around and they're willing to cut deals with you to get your business, as you were saying before.

Insurance Rates for Teen Drivers

Speaker 2 11:09

So the way I'm seeing this is that when you're young you get higher rates for insurance. As you get older and you mature, your rates kind of level out, go down in some respects if you're a good driver, and then when you hit that certain age of 60, 65, 70,. The rates go back up, so I'm not. You know, present company may be included, I don't know uh, but isn't that the fake?

Speaker 2 11:31

what you know, the fact where they they up and then they level and they go up again with older drivers because there's a lot of folks that shouldn't be driving.

Speaker 3 11:39

Yeah, we found that to be the case. So if you look at it's a relatively short window. You have to enjoy decent insurance rates, basically from the time for maybe you're 25 until until you're late 50s. After that, outside of that, your insurance rates are going to go up yeah, well, you know.

Speaker 1 11:55

Here's a thought. To go back to the teenage thing if you are a bad driver, if you got lots of tickets and you're at a high rate, is it possible to get your parents, the kids, grandparents to get that child on their insurance, when we assume that they have a better driving record than you do as a parent?

Speaker 4 12:17

interesting yeah, I've got two. Two of my granddaughters are on our insurance policy, but they they live in our house. That's part of the criteria they have to live in your house with you. The third granddaughter still lives with her mother, so she can't be on my insurance, but she is on her mother's insurance.

Speaker 3 12:35

So it can be done If they're in your residence or if you're their legal guardians. Now I've seen a number of cases where grandparents have adopted their grandchildren, for whatever reasons. Yeah, so I mean, if your child is off in college, if your grandchild is off in college, but you're still their legal guardian, yeah, then you can do it. Interesting.

Speaker 1 12:56

Where there's a will, there's a way.

Speaker 4 12:59

Kind of sort of.

Speaker 1 13:01

Well, chip WalletHub. What is WalletHub?

Speaker 3 13:05

WalletHub is a personal finance website. Primarily, we offer a number of tools to help folks make sound financial decisions. We have budgeting apps and we have credit card recommendations and all sorts of guides for what types of credit cards to look at. We offer free credit scores, credit reports. You can sign up for an account and you can can view your credit scores. That are updated regularly and to shoot down the myth here that just by reviewing your credit score does not affect your score, you can review your credit score 100 times a day if you want. It's not going to affect your credit score.

Speaker 1 13:43

What does affect your credit score?

Speaker 3 13:48

Well, the biggest thing that affects your credit score is your payment history, right? So if you're continually late on payments, if you're using too much of your credit limit, that's going to affect your credit score. So it's always a good idea to always pay at least the minimum amount. Of course you want to strive for more because you don't want to be using up too much of your credit the minimum amount. Of course you want to strive for more because you don't want to be using up too much of your credit. If you use too much of your credit limit, lenders are going to look at that as a sign of maybe you're not managing your credit responsibly and that's going to affect how your ability to obtain credit in the future.

Speaker 1 14:23

And the one thing that I go to is buying a new car.

Speaker 3 14:26

Yeah, it'll definitely affect that that it will definitely affect that, because you can still get a car loan with a with a fair or average credit score, but don't expect to get any of these favorable interest rates that you're always seeing on television. You're going to get a pretty steep interest rate on top of that chip.

Speaker 1 14:42

It's great to talk to you. We thank you very much for joining us on this saturday, sir, thank you my pleasure.

Speaker 3 14:47

Really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 14:48

We'll talk to you we'll talk to you again soon, chip Lupo.

Speaker 3 14:51

Look forward to it.

Speaker 4 14:52

Wallet Hub.

Speaker 1 14:52

Yep, hey coming up. Jeff has the cruise in and events calendars and I got the stories of making automotive news headlines this week. It's all just ahead, coming to you live this weekend from the Hemi Hideout in Brookshire, texas. Stay with us. The award-winning In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show continues after this quick break. Well, we hoped that it was going to do that, but David's not here to turn up the music and I don't know what he's got going on over there, but you can sing, sing.

Speaker 4 15:18

You know the words. Let it roll.

WalletHub and Credit Scores

Speaker 1 15:20

Well, no Switch back to us. We'll get back to that in just a minute. Why don't we just go ahead and do the next segment, shall we? And when he comes back from wherever he's gone off to he went?

Speaker 4 15:35

to buy a Hemi. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Speaker 1 15:37

Okay, so let's try the cruise in and events calendars. Jeffrey has that, are we?

Speaker 2 15:41

sponsored or anything. No, okay, good deal. Well, we got Legends, cars and Coffee. This is for next Saturday at Adam Tedison's Custom Car Wash and Detail. It's in Aransas Pass, near you, michael, actually, south of you Aransas.

Speaker 1 15:56

Pass Just about 20,000 miles Just down the coast. It's down the coast of Washington, Anyways it's going to go on there.

Speaker 2 16:02

It's from 830 to 1130. Participants can expect appearances from Joker's Oceanside Cleaning Service, lucky BB Coffee and Shoe, vip Nails and Spa. So they're going to be out there participating in that, down in the Rands of Spurs, not far from Mike. Texas Gator Fest Car Show 2025. It's at Fort Anahuac Park in Anahuac, texas, michael, check that out. Gator Fest Car Show it's next Saturday. It starts at 9 am. Participants will receive a swag bag, t-shirt and Gator Head trophies.

Speaker 1 16:34

Gator Head trophies. Gator Head trophies are going to be awarded. Remember those? You used to buy those at the Stucky's and they were all in formaldehyde and hard as a rock, but they were baby Gators. I've got a baby Gator Head.

Speaker 2 16:45

That's opened up and I've got my business cards in there. Oh, I got my business cards in there. Oh, yeah, yeah, it's very cool. Fiesta 57, bob Bauer Civic.

Speaker 4 16:51

Center Do you really have?

Speaker 1 16:52

that I do, I'll show you next time you come over, oh my God.

Speaker 2 16:55

Bob Bauer Civic Center, Port Arthur. Same thing down there. They got stuff for the kids, they got raffles prizes, that one's a little closer. Yeah, that one's a little closer. Colorado Country Fair and the Rodeo Car Show that's in Columbus, texas, that's next Saturday. Go out and enjoy that. And then you've got Cars Coffee hosted by Fearless Performance next Sunday. That's in Huntsville, texas. So you go to the car show and then you can go visit the prison museum all that stuff in. Huntsville, see my uncles.

Speaker 1 17:25

Or I could go see my cohorts on the in-wheel time car talk show at the penitentiary.

Speaker 2 17:27

You'll see my cohorts on the In Real Time Car Talk Show at the Penitentiary.

Speaker 1 17:30

That'd be the women's prison Coming up. We're going to have this week's news headlines right after this quick break. The Tex-Mex dining experience is defined by Loopy Tortilla, your destination for Texas' best beef fajitas and frozen margaritas. Since 1983, loopy Tortilla has served authentic and time-tested recipes made with the freshest ingredients. Atmosphere is part of the award-winning experience at Loopy Tortilla, all developed in a little house near Highway 6 and I-10 in West Houston. Visit any of the Loopy Tortillas and you'll see the same attention to detail in each and every location. Start your Loopy experience with queso flammeado and guacamole, along with a classic frozen margarita. Dine on famous Loy beef and chicken fajitas or pepper shrimp brochette or a fish or vegetarian entree, and finish with a scrumptious flan for dessert. Find Loopy Tortilla in Houston College Station, beaumont, austin, san Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth. There's a Texas location near you. The recipes are authentic and time-tested, the ingredients always fresh. Loopy Tortilla he's pretty good.

Speaker 1 18:33

Apple or Android In Wheel Time podcasts can be found everywhere on the stream and through downloads. Whether you're on the road or at home and jonesing for a different kind of car talk show, give In Wheel Time a try. Honest new car reviews, fun, informative interviews with real car people, weekly automotive news. Features like Jeff's Car Culture and Mike's Driving Destinations all on In Wheel Time. Check us out on SiriusXM Podcasts, iheartradio, or while you're shopping on Amazon through Amazon Music. Inwheeltimecom has a list, and we know you love lists, and let me just go. Well, I did.

Speaker 4 19:18

He gave you the finger, you just didn't catch it.

Speaker 1 19:20

No, that's the fickle finger of fate award.

Speaker 4 19:23

You remember that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, what was that from?

Speaker 1 19:27

Thank you, sock it to me. Sock it to me Before your time David, the fickle finger of fate award.

Speaker 2 19:34

Yeah, he's still paying high-rate insurance because he's too young.

Cruise In and Events Calendar

Speaker 1 19:37

Shut up, david. We don't want to know how young you are. Some of the stories making automotive news headlines. Did you see this? That happened yesterday? Trump administration will enforce laws that require foreign workers have proper authorization to be in the United States. According to the White House, after immigration authorities raided a Hyundai LG energy plant construction project over in Georgia. Quote any foreign workers brought in for specific projects must enter the United States legally and with proper work authorizations.

Speaker 1 20:10

It's always been that way, before all of this big mess happened at the border White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson says President Trump will continue delivering on his promise blah blah. The operation was the largest single-site enforcement in the history of homeland security across the United States, according to Stephen Schrank, the Homeland Security Investigations Chief for Georgia and Alabama, who spoke at a press conference. Schrank confirmed 475 workers were arrested, most of them Korean nationals, following a multi-month probe. It was carried out with collaboration across several agencies, including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, fbi, dea, cbp, irs, us Marshals and Georgia State Patrol. Oh my God.

Speaker 4 21:06

I didn't even think about Boy Scouts, the Army was there no Boy Scouts or anything? I don't hear anything about Boy Scouts the Army? Was there no Boy Scouts or anything?

Speaker 1 21:13

How in the world, do you get?

Speaker 4 21:14

400 people in the country at one time.

Speaker 1 21:16

I don't know, because they have to have a green card to work.

Speaker 4 21:20

I believe it's the green card, isn't it the green card? It's a work permit.

Speaker 1 21:24

Yeah, because. I know somebody that currently has one Right and it's a big deal to him to keep it current and all of that.

Speaker 4 21:33

Whatever port of entry you come into, they're going to ask you.

Automotive News Headlines

Speaker 1 21:35

The sweep went beyond the Hyundai-LG joint venture, uncovering a web of subcontractors and sub-subcontractors supplying labor to the site. Those detained were found to be unlawfully in the US and working illegally, some having crossed the border without authorization, those others entering under the visa waiver program without work rights and others overstaying legal visas. Hyundai's Georgia industrial site, known as a Metaplant America, is designed to produce as many as 500 000 hybrid and electric vehicles a year, employ up to 12 500 workers by early next decade. They so did. They have a train roll up there to load them all. I don't know, because a bus wouldn't hold 400 buses, but you know what If somebody gets hurt or if there's a tragic death?

Speaker 2 22:36

they're going to say well, you weren't supposed to be here anyway, so we're not going to honor a lawsuit or something that happened in Houston where a builder was building a home and the home collapsed on a worker that was, I think, 16 years old, that didn't speak English. You on a worker that was, I think, 16 years old that didn't speak English, and you never hear anything after that because they just brush it under the table, and that's what would happen to that.

Speaker 4 22:54

They'd push that under the table.

Speaker 1 22:57

There's a bunch of people in trouble today, I'll bet you Ooh-wee. The first-ever Vehicle Quality and Pricing Index from the Dave Canton Group DCG reveals which automotive brands are delivering the strongest mix of reliability and affordability at a time when consumer budgets are under pressure. Key takeaways from the QPI Buick, mazda and Toyota lead the mainstream field for overall value. Lexus and Cadillac rank highest among luxury brands. Brands with heavy reliance on full-size trucks Ford, chevy, gm fall lower in the rankings due to high transaction prices. Chrysler, jeep and Ram occupy the bottom tier of the index.

Speaker 1 23:43

Thought that was an interesting story. In 2025, availability affordability pressures are reshaping demand. Buick, for example, topping the qpi with a seven percent drop in average transaction price and the fewest reported problems among 100 vehicles, while also posting one of the industry's top market share gains in the first half of the year. Jeff toyota's strong showing reflects its enduring reputation for value, while Lexus similarly balances luxury with long-term reliability. By contrast, higher-priced brands with more reported dealership visits, including premium truck lines and technology-heavy luxury vehicles, ranked lower. No surprise there. Go ahead and make comments if you know.

Speaker 1 24:31

I mean I was just thinking, make sense okay police in midland, texas, accused the former general manager of midland mitsubishi of stealing between 30 000 and 150 000 dollars. Wow, it's a big variant. Sammy rodriguez is facing third degree felony theft charges. He was arrested August 26th, according to the Midland County Sheriff's Office. He also is accused of credit or debit card abuse another third-degree felony. Jail records show Authorities accused Rodriguez Jr of theft by deception. Embezzlement Remind me to tell you about embezzling. Forgery misuse no, but I know somebody got fired for embezzlement.

Speaker 1 25:16

Oh boy, and I know the person. Oh my God, I'll never see him.

Speaker 2 25:22

Mike, he's looking at me.

Speaker 1 25:25

Forgery and misusing company funds over several years. According to local CBS affiliate, Coza TV, Rodriguez Jr worked at the dealership from late 2019 through May of 2024. Midland Mitsubishi closed in May. The former owner's Momentum Automotive Group filed for bankruptcy in August of 24,. According to federal bankruptcy records, Rodriguez Jr also is accused of threatening workers, altering financial records, manipulating deals and jamming communication between employees and the dealership owner. Reportedly, Rodriguez Jr did not register about 150 vehicles with the state and took payments from customers without following through Wow from customers without following through Wow. Investigators found nearly a million dollars in questionable checks issued to Rodriguez Jr between 2020 and 2024.

Speaker 4 26:21

He also allegedly altered payroll records to boost his monthly salary. What I find really interesting about that is in Midland Texas, they were selling Mitsubishis. They were selling them. Well, they were doing something with them. They had them there.

Speaker 1 26:33

that's the surprise, yeah, well apparently he was uh selling them out from underneath the dealership. I just I don't understand.

Speaker 2 26:41

Now. That's, that's yes, that's, that's wrong, it's criminal how do you? Have a business. How do you have who's watching the numbers, the numbers? Where are your audits?

Speaker 1 26:50

Well, apparently the owner of the dealership had no clue.

Speaker 4 26:51

You audit a floor plan. I'm thinking momentum, isn't that another big corporate thing? Yeah, I mean like all over the place.

Speaker 2 27:00

It's not as big as an AutoNation or a Penske or anything, but yeah, they're big.

Speaker 4 27:03

Yeah, so he may have. It's a Mitsubishi dealer in. Midland, texas, of all places I know.

Dealership Embezzlement Story

Speaker 1 27:08

I have a follow-up to this Uh-oh. Rodriguez Jr allegedly issued fraudulent payroll checks, directed employees to issue checks for his personal benefit and misused a business American Express card. No, Rodriguez Jr is also accused of using company checks to buy personal vehicles and recreational watercraft and to pay credit card bills. The judge set Rodriguez Jr's bail at $900,000. He was being held in Midland County Central Detention Center as of the afternoon of September 4th, according to jail records.

Speaker 2 27:43

And he paid his bond in cash.

Speaker 1 27:46

On a stolen credit card. How much?

Speaker 2 27:49

you need Buy some today. There's a little five for the jailer.

Speaker 1 27:52

Yeah, oh my.

Speaker 4 27:54

God.

Speaker 1 27:55

Well, I thought that was a pretty good answer.

Speaker 4 27:56

That's funny.

Speaker 1 27:57

Hey, we'd love to hear from you. Shoot us an email. The address here is info at inwheeltimecom. We'll be back. After this quick break.

Speaker 1 28:04

You own a car you love. Well, why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it? Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts. We promise you'll be impressed. Whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like-new appearance, apply a ceramic coating, install a paint protection film, nano-ceramic window tint or new windshield protection called ExoShield, gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go. Curbed your wheels. Instead of buying new, why not have them repaired? How about a professionally installed radar detector? Gulf Coast AutoShield does that too. Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshieldcom. Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway, just south of the Southwest Freeway, and get a personal tour. Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior. Call them today 832-930-5655, or gcautoshieldcom.

Speaker 1 29:02

The award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show now reaches 5.3 million folks each year. Check us out on inwheeltimecom, the Odyssey Radio app, youtube, facebook and just about every other entertainment source out there, including our live broadcast every Saturday 10 to noon Central Time. The InWheelTime Car Talk Show has informative automotive guest interviews, new car reviews, along with popular features, including Jeff's car culture, the latest new cars, cruise ins and racing dates. It's InWheelTimecom. Join us. That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show. I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InWheelTimecom website. Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify Stitcher, I heart podcast podcast addict tune in Pandora and Amazon music. Keep listening and we'll see you soon.