Welcome to the 8th episode of the Miracle Ford Podcast! This week we speak with Jim Morgan, the Finance Manager at Miracle Ford. Jim is from Nashville and has been with Miracle since 2002. This is a great episode, so be sure to sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Topics Discussed:

• Jim’s background
• What is the job of a Finance Manager
• How getting great loan rates are still possible with low or challenged credit
• A deep dive into the 2020 Ford Expedition
• What makes Miracle different

Transcript

John Haggard: 00:03 Welcome to the Miracle Ford podcast where each week you will be able to learn the best ways to purchase lease service and maintain, accessorize and sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible when you’re ready to do it. And you’ll also find out about new technology on new vehicles. 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 tips you can use. You will also see a transcript of each podcast so that you can easily refer to it for information to have at your fingertips.

John Haggard: 00:35 Today’s topic is the new 2020 Ford Explorer and what’s changed since the original Explorer was released and also some financing information for those who are looking on best ways, quickest ways, fastest ways to get financed. On the podcast we have with us, Jim Morgan, he’s the Finance Manager at Miracle Ford. Hey Jim, welcome to the podcast.

Jim Morgan: 00:56 Hey John, thank you for having me.

John Haggard: 00:58 Glad to, glad to have you along. You know, people always want to know who’s behind the curtain, who’s behind the voice, who is this guy? So tell us a little bit about you, your background. Where did you grow up, Jim?

Jim Morgan: 01:09 Well, I grew up here in Nashville. I’ve been here all my life. Started in the car business in 1993 after several years working in the hospitality industry.

John Haggard: 01:19 Okay. So what were you doing in hospitality?

Jim Morgan: 01:21 I managed hotels and restaurants.

John Haggard: 01:24 Okay. Well such a big switch from that to automotive. How did you get into automotive? How did you bridge that gap?

Jim Morgan: 01:31 It’s about the same. It’s the same kind of the business. You’re still dealing with people. So that’s, that’s basically how I was able to move into it.

John Haggard: 01:40 And then how did you wind up at Miracle Ford

Jim Morgan: 01:43 In 2002 I went to work for Tim Galvin, at Miracle Chrysler as Finance Manager. Been with them ever since.

John Haggard: 01:52 All right. So and then since 2002 so that would make it about, what, 17 going on 18 years.

Jim Morgan: 01:57 That’s correct.

John Haggard: 02:00 Gotcha. All right. So as Finance Manager, people understand, okay, well he manages finance, but what exactly is your role at Miracle Ford in terms of Finance Manager? What can you do for someone who’s coming in to try to get financed?

Jim Morgan: 02:14 Well, we are going to offer the best programs that we have available for our customers, especially the customers that may feel like that they have the credit issues that maybe keep them from buying a car. Credit scores aren’t what they used to be. I mean there are many cases where you see some lower scores. It’s still git, very good rates. I had one over the weekend, I get as low as 1.9% so you have to be able to look at it in the big picture in order to structure a deal to make it work for both the customer and the bank.

John Haggard: 02:47 Well you know the old perception is, well if you have a low credit score, the only thing you’re going to be able to buy, if you can buy, is a junker clunker or something that it might be eight or 10 years old. So your saying even with challenged credit, it’s possible to get a a new vehicle, a lease or purchase at at 1.9% in that particular case

Jim Morgan: 03:05 The 1.9% was a on a purchase of a new Expedition. So yeah, I mean you can buy pretty much whenever you can, you know, whatever you care to buy.

John Haggard: 03:16 So what’s changed? I mean why now Jim is it that with a, we’ll just call it challenged credit or less than you know, high credit that someone would be able to not only get into a new vehicle but at a good rate. Why, why now versus a few years ago?

Jim Morgan: 03:31 One thing I’ve seen is that there are more opportunities depending on the cars and also the customer. I mean the credit score is not their whole story either. I mean most of the time they’ve got great history and employment history, residence history, things like that all add up. So you have to take the whole picture when you’re getting a customer taken care of with a bank.

John Haggard: 03:57 Okay. So you think they take a more of a 360 degree view today versus a few years ago when they just would only look at the score and say yes or no?

Jim Morgan: 04:06 That’s exactly right.

John Haggard: 04:07 We’re also talking today about the new and exciting 2020 Ford Explorer SUV. Kind of hard to believe that 2020 models are here and when you hear about the Ford Explorer SUV, you also hear things like, well there’s the XLT, there’s the limited, there’s the s t and the platinum, and sometimes the model names can be confusing, but just basically tell us a little bit about the Ford Explorer and the different models in terms of what the differences are. But really I think what people want to know about most is what’s cool about the Ford Explorer, what’s going on?

Jim Morgan: 04:37 Well, everything’s cool about the new Explorer because it’s a whole new body style. We’ve revamped it top to bottom. One of the things that I really like about the new Explorer is now rear wheel drive meaning instead of the front pulling it when it was with the front wheel drive. Now it’s going to be pushing. The overall length has changed. The rear of the truck is now a little bit longer, which is going to increase the towing experience. The towing on a new Explorer can be up to 5,600 pounds, which is a lot larger than it’s ever been before. And also with that design, it’s going to give a better ride and handling to a better weight distribution on the truck.

John Haggard: 05:20 All right. You know, and I think I was doing a little bit of research before calling you that the Explorer was the first four door SUV that was produced by Ford, I think back in 1991 to replace the two-door Bronco. I remember the Broncos. Is that about right?

Jim Morgan: 05:35 That sounds about right. I know it’s a year or two before I got into the business, but I think that’s exactly right.

John Haggard: 05:41 Right. And, and the site also say this is now the sixth generation, if I read that properly, six.

Jim Morgan: 05:46 That is correct.

John Haggard: 05:46 Wow. I mean that’s, that’s something, what do you see in terms of new and exciting technology? You know, we’ve got so much technology with Wifi and everything fi all over the place, everybody’s connected all here and there. What’s going on in the Explorer that’s cool about technology?

Jim Morgan: 06:03 Well, it starts everywhere. We’ve now have a tenant screen that’s in the middle of the, of the stack for your navigation and all your controls. It’s also handy. Everything’s just right there for you to see. And then you go into like the st truck and the st Explorer is straight out of the racing division of Ford. So you really got a performance vehicle in the new Explorer. And also John, we now have a hybrid Explorer, which is really exciting, but the hybrid can get up to 500 miles of a tank of fuel, but also it can still tow 5,000 pounds, which is really unheard of when you talk about a hybrid vehicle.

John Haggard: 06:49 So Jim, what would you tell people about Miracle Ford in terms of why they should buy at Miracle as opposed to other Ford dealers? Because every dealer out there as you know, is going to say, hey, you know, we’re going to give you the best deal. We’re the best. We got the best customer service and all this kind of thing. What is it that makes Miracle Ford different now that you’ve been there? What do we say, 18 years?

Jim Morgan: 07:10 Well, soon to be 17. The thing I see is the people, I mean, you can go and look at the numbers of a car and they’re within $100 of each other. And I mean they’re, everybody’s got them. Everybody pays the same. However, it’s the people from the Galvin family who’s been here since they opened this in 1980. I mean, they’ve been, they’ve been strong community people. And I mean, we all work towards the same goal. We’re here to take care of our custom