Jonathan Breeden: [00:00:00] tell me a little bit about the car business. you know, You and I were talking before we started about how you’ve seen it. It is changing. How is the car selling car everything’s starting to change?
Carlie Rye: It’s definitely changed. There is so much information available to consumers now that most of the time, when the customer comes in the dealership, they know just as much about the car, if not more, then we do.
you know, They’re asking very detailed questions. They want to touch and feel. And a lot of times, customers are making decisions quicker because they already know everything. As far as availability, you know, the car inventory has improved over the past few years since COVID, but you got to work extra hard to get a customer. And it’s really all about customer service at this point.
Narrator: Welcome to another episode of Best of Johnston County, brought to you by Breeden Law Office. Our host, Jonathan Breeden, an experienced family lawyer with a deep connection to the community, is ready to take you on a journey through the area that he has called home for over 20 [00:01:00] years. Whether it’s a deep dive into the love locals have for the county or unraveling the complexities of family law, Best of Johnston County presents an authentic slice of this unique community.
Jonathan Breeden: Hello, and welcome to another edition of The Best of Johnston County podcast. I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden. And on today’s episode, we have Carlie Rye, who is a marketing sort of extraordinaire. She’s done a lot of different things. She was with a Country Superstars 102.3 of her father for many years on the radio, but now she’s with Universal Chevrolet.
So, we’re going to talk to her a little bit about, what she does with Universal Chevrolet, the evolving of the car business and cars in general. And we’re going to talk a little bit on this episode about her involvement with the Cleveland Christmas Parade and the light up Clayton, the downtown. I used to call it the Christmas Tree Lighting, which I think is coming up on December 5th of this year.
And then we’re going to do a second episode. We’re going to talk to her a little bit more about marketing and how to brand yourself. So, come back in a couple of weeks and listen [00:02:00] to that one. Welcome, Carlie.
Carlie Rye: Thank you. Thank you for having me. Right.
Jonathan Breeden: And like I said, before we get started, as I always say, please like, follow, subscribe to this podcast wherever you’re seeing it. You’ll be made aware of future episodes of The Best Johnston County podcast. The Best of Johnston County podcast comes out every single Monday, and we enjoy doing it, and we have a lot of great guests.
I think, you’ll enjoy listening to it. If this your first time, go back and listen to the previous ones and keep following us, because I think you will find this as fascinating as we do bringing it to you, because I learned something in every single episode. No doubt. So, cool. All right, Carlie. So. What’s your name? What do you do?
Carlie Rye: So, Carlie Rye, and my official title is Public Relations Manager at Universal Chevrolet, which is Downtown Wendell. And you don’t see many car dealerships that are officially on main street anymore. But if you were to ask the guys that I work with, what I do, they probably say, driving them crazy, because I’ve had us doing all kinds of shenanigans.
They’ve been in elf costumes. They just were in high heels for the Harbor Shelter Walking Her Shoes event. But really, just [00:03:00] trying to drive traffic in the store and inform people on their car buying experience and decisions.
Jonathan Breeden: Well, That’s cool. That’s cool. Well, We’ll get to that in a second. So, Where’d you grow up? I, I I know, your father is a, great guy. I’ve known your father for many years. So, a little bit about your background, and how you got started into sort of radio, public relations, stuff like that.
Carlie Rye: So, I grew up in Goldsboro. I attended Charles Aycock High School. You’ve probably been to that school before. We used to have a good football team.
Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. Pikeville.
Carlie Rye: Yes.
Jonathan Breeden: Pikeville, Aycock.
Carlie Rye: Yeah.
Jonathan Breeden: Used to go there with WRAL when I worked at Football Friday.
Carlie Rye: Yes. And that was like the big event of Friday night. That’s what everybody did. I started working at AT&T after I graduated, and that’s kind of where I got into merchandising, and learning how to sell, and managing people. And then my dad, you know, opened the local Johnston County’s first FM Radio Station.
And I started working with him. I was exposed to radio my whole life, but working with your dad could be a blessing and a curse. But it was a lot a lot a lot of fun. [00:04:00]
Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, that was a good time. You remember what year y’all started Country Superstars?
Carlie Rye: 2014 or 2015. Yikes, it’s going to get me.
Jonathan Breeden: Because your dad had an entire career, I guess with Curtis Media and Raleigh, and he came out here and he started that and I thought that was great. And he did a ton of promoting and was really about small business. And he was all about Johnston County, just like we’re on this podcast. I mean, I really appreciated what he was trying to do and bring a focus here to this county. You know what I mean?
Carlie Rye: Yeah. And we were able to give local businesses a voice and to be able to be heard by thousands, and talk about being embedded in the community. Gosh, I learned so much about all the resources and programs that are in Johnston County.
Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s great.
Carlie Rye: That’s great.
So,
Jonathan Breeden: But then, I guess your dad decided to sell the radio station. What, maybe a year ago? A year and a half ago? Almost two years ago. December, Almost two years ago. Yeah. And he retired to the beach.
Carlie Rye: He did.
Jonathan Breeden: It’s a tough life. I saw him the other day, he had his tan, he was headed back to the beach when I talked to him. so I kind of wanted to [00:05:00] go with him.
Carlie Rye: So now, But now my dad’s entertainment is when all these telemarketers call, he just messes with them on the phone, and tells them all this silly stuff. That’s, what he does for a full time.
Jonathan Breeden: So. Well, That’s good. So, you end up going to work I guess, after you sold the radio station, Mm-Hmm. , um, I guess with Universal Chevy. So, And it’s in Wendell, and it’s really in downtown. You don’t have any downtown car dealerships anymore? you know, And Downtown Wendell is, is coming back.
Most of the shops are full now, and they have a great barbecue place. So, I mean, There’s plenty of stuff to do.
Carlie Rye: And they really back right up to Johnston County too. I mean, If you drive a mile outside of Wendell, you’re in JoCo.
Jonathan Breeden: Well, And there are people in Johnston County, whether people realize it or not, they have Windell mailing, have Wendell mailing addresses. There’s people in Johnston County with Zebulon mailing addresses, Wendell mailing addresses. We deal with it all the time.
We go file something at the courthouse, the clerks always say, okay, is that in Johnston County? Yes, we have checked. It is in Johnston County. I know it’s Zebulon. I know it’s Wendell. You know, We have Andrew in Johnston County. We have [00:06:00] Garner. We have Garner right here. Where my office is here at 4042.
is, I mean, So, we have all these postal codes that come in, we have Dunn in Johnston County, on the southern end. So, uh, You just can’t always go by the postal code as to what county, a town or cause postal codes, cross county lines. We’ve talked about that before.
So, tell me a little bit about the car business. you know, you and I were talking before we started about how you’ve seen it. It is changing. How is the car car selling car everything’s starting to change?
Carlie Rye: It’s definitely changed. There is so much information available to consumers now that most of the time, when the customer comes in the dealership, they know just as much about the car, if not more, then we do.
you know, They’re asking very detailed questions. They want to touch and feel. And a lot of times, customers are making decisions quicker because they already know everything. As far as availability, you know, the car inventory has improved over the past few years since COVID, but you got to work [00:07:00] extra hard to get a customer. And it’s really all about customer service at this point.
Jonathan Breeden: Right. disagree. And it’s the same thing, And you know, we’re divorce lawyers here, people come in, they may have already read the book I wrote. They’ve been on the website, they’ve been researching, and they often will know a lot more than customers knew just three or four years ago.
And I think that is a good thing because I think, you know, if you’re going, you’re going to go through a divorce, knowing what your rights are is important in helping you make the decisions moving forward, so that you don’t sort of get hoodwinked a little bit. How has that affected the car business you know, with the customers being more knowledgeable?
Carlie Rye: Well, It depends. So, like, commercial customers are a completely different breed. They come in, they need that truck to get back on the road because they got work they got to do, and that truck is making them money. But for the average customer, you know, it is it for their wife or do they have a new baby on the way?
I don’t know, It’s kind of it could go either way, really. EV customers tend to take the longest time to buy, [00:08:00] because they really want to know every little thing. Talk about doing their homework, they’re doing their homework.
Jonathan Breeden: Right, So, how many different types of EV cars does Chevrolet have?
Carlie Rye: Oh, great question. So, let’s see, we have the Equinox, the Blazer, the Silverado, they’re even making the EV Corvette. And a van, so that would be five.
Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And what is the distance they can go?
Carlie Rye: Around 300 miles tends to be the average. Chevrolet actually has the most affordable EV as far as range with over 300 miles, and that would be the Equinox.
Jonathan Breeden: Okay. well, And I guess the question I have about EVs, you know, these Electric Vehicles is, the number and the availability of charging stations. Great. I know Tesla has done a pretty decent job, but the Tesla charging stations, I don’t believe are universal. They’re kind of for Teslas.
So what I really almost wish they were universal charging stations, kind of like there’s universal unleaded gas. But anyway, tell me a little bit about that.
Carlie Rye: Well, You are exactly right. And so, what they have done now is Chevrolet has come out with an adapter that you can use to plug into those [00:09:00] Tesla stations because they have done a great job.
I think, there’s over 26,000 charging stations across the country. So now, if you buy that adapter, you can use those charging stations. And I mean, they’re constantly adding more. The best thing for a EV customer to do would be to install one of those level two chargers at their home.
Jonathan Breeden: Okay. What’s that?
Carlie Rye: So, that is the charger that you can plug your car in overnight and you wake up in the morning, you’re a hundred percent charged. And then that way, you can charge it every day when you go home.
Jonathan Breeden: Right. I gotcha. Yeah. My only thought about I mean, I have a hybrid vehicle, you know, which is not an Electric Vehicle, but it gets pretty good gas mileage. So, that’s something for the environment. If I started off on a trip, how many times would I have to stop if I was trying to go to Pennsylvania?
Carlie Rye: Sure.
Jonathan Breeden: Or Florida?
Carlie Rye: And that’s completely, I mean, I get it. That’s a reasonable point. Some people have an EV and then they have another car. Or you could stop at, say, a Sheetz and those fast chargers, you can charge your car 100 miles in 10 minutes. So, a lot of times, you know, people will plan their route and they’ll go eat while their car [00:10:00] is charging and by the time they’re done eating, they’re at 100% charged.
Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s pretty cool. So, Sheetz has chargers. I didn’t even know that because I don’t have an electric car.
Carlie Rye: And then of course, bigger cities. But you would
Jonathan Breeden: kind of
Carlie Rye: have to do your homework and
Jonathan Breeden: kind of
Carlie Rye: know where you were going.
Jonathan Breeden: So, the difference between the electronic version of these four or five vehicles that Chevrolet has and the gas, what are the differences? They got, I’m assuming The electric car is weighless?
Carlie Rye: Great. Yeah, they do. They actually do weighless and there’s really low maintenance because now, with that regenerative braking, the battery is doing the braking. So, there’s no oil changes. You really don’t have to change the brakes and do your rotors. So, tires.
Jonathan Breeden: I didn’t think about not break. So, the battery does the break.
Carlie Rye: Yeah.
Jonathan Breeden: Okay. So, if I hit the brakes, what happens?
Carlie Rye: Did I just teach you something?
Jonathan Breeden: You did. Right. I didn’t know that. Right. So, if I hit the brakes, I’m actually slowing the battery down and that’s what slows the car down?
Well,
Carlie Rye: so Depending on how you have that car. Sometimes, when you take your foot off the gas, the car is automatically starting to stop. So, it takes a little bit of getting used to when you’re driving an EV because [00:11:00] you’ll find yourself doing this for a minute. But you’ll get used to it. But yeah, it’s charging the battery.
Jonathan Breeden: Okay. So, are the features the same between the gas powered ones? I know they’re, lighter. So, where do they save that weight?
Carlie Rye: Where do they save the weight? I’m like, can I phone a friend?
Jonathan Breeden: I don’t know. I’m curious. I mean, I, I mean, I was just curious. Cause I know they have to be lighter.
Carlie Rye: Right.
Jonathan Breeden: But I was just curious, as well. they made of a different metal? I mean, I just don’t know.
Carlie Rye: Well, with them being lighter, one of the things that happens is the car, it is a true high performance vehicle. I mean, That sucker will go. It’ll get up and go, I mean, just 0 to 60 in just a few seconds.
Have family law questions? Need guidance to navigate legal challenges? The compassionate team at Breeden Law Office is here to help. Visit us at www. breedenfirm. com for practical advice, resources, or to book a consultation. Remember, when life gets messy, you don’t have to face it alone.
Jonathan Breeden: So, what are some of the things that y’all are doing at [00:12:00] Universal Chevrolet to delineate yourselves in this market? There are lots of places to buy a car. You know, You’re in Wendell, small town. you know, What are y’all doing to, to, stand out in a crowded field?
Carlie Rye: So, we really just want to treat people right. And we want to give them the information that they need the first time. So, we’re trying to brand ourselves as anything transportation related. Let us help you. You know, If you got a question about a park, if you have a teenager that’s getting ready to be driving, if your car has a recall, just anything, let us help.
And a lot of our business ends up being, referrals or repeat customers because they felt like they got treated, right? We’ve been in business for 92 years. Same family. You don’t see that often.
Jonathan Breeden: You don’t see that often. That’s true.
Carlie Rye: And I have to say, you don’t stay in business that long if you’re not treating people right. Very embedded in the community involved and people kind of get to know us, our crazy shenanigans that I was referring to, they were like, Oh, you guys are so funny.
You look like such a fun place to work. So, when they want to go buy a [00:13:00] car, You where do they think they’re going to have fun at?
Jonathan Breeden: Do y’all service the cars there too?
Carlie Rye: Oh,
yeah, yeah, Yeah.
Jonathan Breeden: Okay.
Carlie Rye: Definitely.
Jonathan Breeden: So, you service things other than Chevrolets?
Carlie Rye: Sure.
Jonathan Breeden: Okay, cool. All right. How do people get in touch with Universal Chevrolet other than driving to Wendell?
Carlie Rye: UniversalChevy.com. You can go online, find my phone number, email Carlie@UniversalChevy.com. And again, anything transportation related. We can help. We got it. We’re a medium truck duty dealer, which means we service trucks all the way up to 60, 6,500. So, like, big dump trucks, landscape trucks, things like that.
Yeah.
Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. Well, now Let’s transition to talk a little bit about, you do so much community service. I mean, probably do more than me. And I do a fair amount, I’m not tootin my own horn, but like, if there’s somebody that does more than I do, it’s definitely you. Let’s talk about some of the things that you’re involved in.
You’ve continued to, even after you’ve left the radio station, to emcee, and, help with events all over this county, right?
Carlie Rye: Yeah. I had no idea how many people friends I would make at the [00:14:00] radio station, and I still consider them friends, and all the causes and the events are great causes. So, how can you say no to that?
I I can understand . I I understand that, right? It’s, you got a lot going on you know, cause you do have a regular job and all that. So, one of the things I know that’s coming up is the Cleveland Christmas Parade, which is done now by the fire department, which is Chris Ellington and Kim Lawter have sort of taken that over after our Chamber of Commerce went out of business, and was sort of absorbed into the Smithfield Chamber of Commerce when it became Triangle East right before COVID started at the end of 2019.
Jonathan Breeden: And, So, I know that’s coming up and, I guess, you’re the emcee for that parade?
Carlie Rye: First Tuesday in December, December 3rd, also the emcee for the July 4th, Independence Day parade. But what I love about the Cleveland parade is, one, it’s a night time parade, which means, your Christmas lights look so pretty.
And two, you can pre-register, but you can just show up that day. And that makes it fun, because someone that maybe didn’t prepare and [00:15:00] they found out that there’s a parade two days from now, they can still be in it and advertise their business or their civic group, their church or whatnot. A lot of friends.
Jonathan Breeden: And they don’t charge a million dollars to be in it, or any of that. It’s really,
Carlie Rye: And they throw candy.
Jonathan Breeden: They do. And there’s golf carts, and tractors, and horses. And I mean, a little bit of everything in the Cleveland parade. It is not the more professional parade that you would see in Clayton which is always the second Saturday in December, played the Santa Claus in that parade for many, many years when the Chamber of Commerce had that parade. uh, When Sally Schlindwein was the head of the Chamber there.
Now it’s Dana Wooten, who was a guest a few episodes ago on the uh, best of Johnson County podcast. But you also are involved. What I used to just call the tree lighting in downtown Clayton. I think it’s kind of evolved from that. what is that? It is a whole
night of festivities.
So that’s Thursday, December 5th. That’ll be two nights after the Cleveland Christmas parade. And that typically starts around five o’clock or they have a lot of nativity. They have a train station [00:16:00] set up or mini train station. They have a parade. They have the. Middle schools, elementary and high school students singing.
You can make reindeer food. I mean it is a map and there is so many things going up and going on up and down Main Street that it looks like something out of a Christmas movie.
Well, and it really has taken over Main Street, you know years ago it started with They lit the tree in the park and it’s just kind of grown from there.
And now almost all the businesses in downtown Clayton are involved in, in all of that. And if you’ve not been to that in a few years or if you’ve never been to it, I would highly recommend it is so much fun and, and everybody is so nice and people are getting in the spirit. And, and this year we kind of have a condensed holiday spirit because Thanksgiving is as late as it can be.
You know, I mean, Thanksgiving cannot be later than the 28th because it’s the fourth Thursday. You know, it really can’t be later than 28. So we have a much shorter time between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Sometimes you get a [00:17:00] whole nother week when it’s. Like the 23rd or 22nd. So, so it’ll definitely be getting in spirit right after the week, right after Thanksgiving.
So where are you at for that? I mean, where, where do you do the part where you talk and introduce everybody? where is that at? Because I know it’s all of downtown, but they only do the speaking at one end.
Carlie Rye: So at town square. And so we’ll have, typically we’ll have different groups, the schools coming every 20 minutes.
I’ll be downstairs. And then the mayor, Jody McLeod will light the Christmas tree. seven o’clock hour, they’ll have some awards for the stores with the best storefront that’s decorated and they’ll, they’ll announce the community spirit award. Miss and Mrs. Claus.
Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s great. That’s great. Yeah. That is a tremendous event.
the Cleveland Parade is also nice. They also have food trucks and vendors there at the fire department. And that’s gonna be on Tuesday, December 3rd the Clayton Christmas tree lighting, which is more of a celebrate downtown lighting of the town really in Clayton. That’s gonna be on Thursday, December 5th this year.
So definitely go [00:18:00] out and participate in both of those. really are into this stuff, Andrew has a great one as well. Um, I don’t remember the date off the top of my head. It might be that Saturday, the 7th, but I’m not sure. But Andrew’s got a live nativity as well. They do a nice job there.
All the towns really do. I was going
Carlie Rye: to say you, there’s no way you can not be in the Christmas spirit in Joe Cove or Harnett County, because there is so many things going on.
Jonathan Breeden: There’s no doubt about that. So the last question we’ll ask you on this episode of the best Johnson County podcast, which is what we ask everybody is, what do you love most about Johnston County?
Carlie Rye: You know what I love that each individual town kind of has a unique feel and I can relate to every town The fact that you can go to Benson, to Clayton, to Four Oaks Shoot over to Selma and find a nice cold drink We’ve definitely made a lot of progress with our social districts So I’d probably say that.
Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. Well, that’s great We’d like to thank carly rye for being our guest on this episode of the best johnson county [00:19:00] podcast chat back in a couple weeks We have another episode of her where she’s going to talk about how to brand your business how to brand yourself Some things she learned in radio and a little bit more about marketing And some of the other community service she’s involved in.
So if you enjoyed this episode, check back for the next one. We’ll hear in a few weeks, like I said earlier, please like, follow, subscribe to this podcast, wherever you’re seeing it, whether it be Apple, Spotify, YouTube, LinkedIn, tick tock, or any of those places. So that you’ll be aware of future episodes of the best Johnson County podcast.
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We could do
Carlie Rye: a TikTok dance.
Jonathan Breeden: A Tik Tok dance.
Carlie Rye: Yeah. I’ve done a TikTok dance. You have? I
Jonathan Breeden: have. I they made me do one. It was not good, but anyway. So anyway, till next time, I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden.
Narrator: That’s the end of today’s [00:20:00] episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.
If the legal aspects highlighted raised some questions, help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm.com.
