Welcome to Episode #6 of our weekly podcast here at Miracle Ford! In this episode, we talk with Jeremy Brandt, a Sales Manager at Miracle Ford, as he discusses the amazing 2019 Ford F-150.

Topics Discussed:

• Jeremy’s origins and how he got into the car business
• Frequently Asked Questions about buying a new truck
• Awards of the F-150
• High Technology Features of the F-150
• Safety Features of the F-150
• Other Great Features of the F-150
• Buying Vs Leasing
• Why Buy From Miracle Ford
• Miracle VIP Program
• Jeremy’s Hobbies
• Final Advice For Truck Shoppers

Transcript

Opening

John Haggard: 00:02 Welcome to the Miracle Ford podcast where you will be able to learn about the best ways to purchase, or lease, maintain and accessorize your vehicles and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready to. Also facts about various vehicles to help you make the right vehicle choice for you, especially in the high technology area. I’m your host John Haggard and throughout each month, right here we’ll have different team members join us from Miracle Ford to bring you the tips that you can use. And by the way, we always post a transcript of each podcast so you can easily refer to it for information that you would like to have right there at your fingertips without having to go back and search on the podcast.

John Haggard: 00:41 Today we’re talking to Jeremy Brandt, he’s the Sales Manager at Miracle Ford in Gallatin. Hey Jeremy, welcome to the podcast

Jeremy Brandt: 00:48 Hey John. Good morning. Thank you.

Tell Us a Little About Your Background

John Haggard: 00:49 You Bet. Glad to have you here and before we get started, we always like to find out how does somebody get into the car business? Tell us a little bit about you, your background.

Jeremy Brandt: 00:58 Well, I guess it’s a long story, but, I was doing construction way back when. I had just recently graduated college and, and of course I am from Illinois. So, in the middle of January I was out working on a roof. And some friends of mine kind of coaxed me into coming out and work in the finance department at a local car dealership in Illinois.

John Haggard: 01:21 Wow. Okay. So you went from roofs to an inside air conditioned job in finance?

Jeremy Brandt: 01:28 I did. I did. It was quite a challenge. It was quite a change, and it wasn’t something that I thought I was going to be good at, I guess, so to speak. And I was always more of a construction type guy and we were working on a house that I had just built in Illinois. Of course it was cold out and it was snowing and so I actually, at at the time got to go inside and work where it was warm.

John Haggard: 01:51 There you go.

Jeremy Brandt: 01:51 So, yeah, especially the Illinois area, it can be very cool. Very cool. Very cold there.

How Did You End Up At Miracle Ford

John Haggard: 01:57 Yeah. So how long have you been in the car business now?

Jeremy Brandt: 02:01 22 years. This is my 22nd year.

John Haggard: 02:04 22 years?

Jeremy Brandt: 02:06 Yeah.

John Haggard: 02:06 Wow. So now tell us how you wound up coming to Miracle Ford in Gallatin.

Jeremy Brandt: 02:11 We really liked Tennessee and thought it’d be good for us to raise our family, and so we ended up down here.

John Haggard: 02:18 How long have you been at Miracle Ford Now?

Jeremy Brandt: 02:20 I’ve been here for right at a year and a half.

What is Your Role At The Dealership

John Haggard: 02:23 Okay. And so now what is your exact role at the dealership in terms of what you specifically do?

Jeremy Brandt: 02:28 I’m one of the sales managers. What I do is I help people select the right vehicle and then getting them into their new car.

What Are Frequently Asked Questions About Buying A New Truck

John Haggard: 02:34 All right. And if you’d like to take a look at the top questions that people ask today when they say, “I’m looking at trucks or I’m looking at whatever vehicle it is”, what do you hear come up a lot? What are the first like two or three things people always ask?

Jeremy Brandt: 02:48 Typically they ask for equipment. Sometimes with truck buyers, we don’t always ask the right questions. You know, a lot of times with younger guys, it’s how much horsepower does a truck have, but a lot of times we don’t think about what we actually use a truck for and what we need. And so it’s our job to help determine what kind of truck they need and get them into the right vehicle that’s going to do what they need to do.

John Haggard: 03:07 And so in terms of those questions, Jeremy, what would you say? Look, if you’re considering, for example, a Ford F-150, here are the questions you should ask or here are the things you should know before you go out shopping.

Jeremy Brandt: 03:19 One of the things you should know is what you’re going to use the truck for. Are you towing something, how much weight is there? What are we towing, how’s the truck gonna handle with the load on, and those sort of questions. It’s more capability than creature comforts at that point. And then we can kind of tailor what they want equipment wise after we determine, what engine, what specific year ratios and and so forth that actually do what they need to do.

Awards of the Ford F-150

John Haggard: 03:43 All right, so today we’re talking about the new 2019 Ford F-150 and you said before we went on the podcast, “John, I could talk for two or three hours about the Ford F150”. So tell us a little bit about, I guess the awards that the Ford F-150 has earned. I mean, it’s been around I think at least over 40 years at this point. Right? And maybe even longer.

Jeremy Brandt: 04:04 That’s it. It’s been the truck of the year for, you know, for decades now. It’s the most capable truck by far out there. These things, and I kid, and I say this to people a lot, but it’s got more technology on than the Apollo 13 space shuttle. You know, there’s so much research and development and going back years now, Ford went out and they’ve got the CEO from Boeing, a gentleman named Alan Mulally. He brought innovation back to the Ford brand and since then I think we’ve been a leader in technology. I think we’ve been a leader and innovation as a whole. It’s amazing what these trucks do. They all but drive themselves at this point.

High Technology Features in the F-150

John Haggard: 04:37 Now, what would you say Jeremy are some of the coolest features, the high technology features that you see in the new Ford F150?

Jeremy Brandt: 04:46 The thing that I think is kind of neat is, because I’m a truck guy from way back, pulled trailers and done things, the ultimate trailer tow is, is a pretty incredible feature. It’ll direct you as your back, your trailer up. It gives you a 360 degree view, a camera view of of what your towing. It’s pretty incredible feature to watch.

John Haggard: 05:05 Yeah. And then as you look at the F-150, do you find features, you know a lot of manufacturers want to be competitive so they say, “well if he’s got it, you know, or she’s got it, we’ve got it too”. Is there anything on the F-150 that right now is not available elsewhere?

Jeremy Brandt: 05:19 There’s a lot of features that are on the F150 that aren’t available elsewhere. It’s a technological marvel. Chevy’s got a 360 degree camera, Chevrolet has, and it’s just not the same as Ford’s. Ford’s is a lot better. The adaptive cruise features on the Ford is a lot better than anything else that’s out there.

John Haggard: 05:36 Now when you’re talking about technology in terms of Wifi, people are always interested in Wifi. Everybody’s on a device and sometimes you pack a truck full of people and sometimes there are not enough places to plug in and all this. What about the Wifi access on the F-150?

Jeremy Brandt: 05:51 I guess, to answer that question, you probably need to talk more to my nine year old daughter. But she’s constantly on an iPad or an iPod and my wife and I’s F-150. She connects to that and anywhere, literally anywhere, we can be anywhere in the middle of the country and she’s got connectivity and she can play her games and watch her shows and so forth. So it’s, it’s pretty incredible feature. It’s real nice for parents like us.

John Haggard: 06:19 Now, I was reading and I think I got this right about the F-150. You can connect up to 10 devices on some models?

Jeremy Brandt: 06:26 You can, you can connect up to 10 devices on the F-150. I