Critic's Garage: It is never "just an oil change"

[The Critic]

How many of you do car work for your friends, out of pity?

Generally, I only do car work on my friends' cars if they are close friends who ask for it, or if they are financially incapable to properly maintain their cars (and I feel sorry for them).

The visit usually starts out with one of my friends saying "can you help me do an oil change?" So I generally go to their place to do the oil change, and I also look over the car for any possible repairs or maintenance that may be needed. This means pulling off all tires (rotate if necessary), pulling out the engine and cabin filters, checking fluids and brakes, etc.

Perhaps this is due to my standards for vehicle condition, but I have found that on most of the cars I see, I usually end up advising the person of more work being needed, on nearly every visit. It's like if I look hard enough, I can always find something that needs to be fixed!

As an example, I was just looking through the maintenance history for one of the cars I have maintain. I have serviced this car for the last 30k, generally at 5k intervals. At every visit so far, in addition to the oil change, I have added on either a cabin filter, a trans drain/fill, a front brake job, a brake fluid flush, tires, etc. In other words, it never leaves with only an oil change.

With that said, for those of you who do work for your friends or others, do you carefully inspect the car at every visit and advise the person of any work that may need to be done? Or do you only do what they were asking for help on, and ignoring any other obvious items that may need attention?

I am sometimes tempted to only do what was requested, but then I am afraid that if something breaks shortly after, they'll get ticked at me for not noticing it and advising them about the problem.

Thoughts?

 

[oilmutt]

I do work on my sisters car(saturn) and still help her out with the cost of other expenses ie new snow tires,dealer charges for routine maintain i cant do because she lives 4 hours away.yes blood is thicker than water!

 

[montero1]

It's funny that when we do it (notice other items that need attention) for friends, it can be called "looking out for their safety", but if a dealer does it, they turn from dealership to "stealership."

 

[Caliberguy]

SO TRUE!!!!!

I do oil change on parents' car, sister's car, girlfriend's car, then wind up changing cabin filters, air filters, wipers, etc. all out of my own pocket because it's family and I want them to be safe

 

[Pop_Rivit]

I help an elderly friend with his 1999 Dakota, however other than oil changes it rarely needs any servicing. A couple times a year John will bring it over, we'll put it on the lift, I'll change the oil, take a look at the underside, and call it good.

Beyond that, I expect others to be responsible for themselves.

 

[exranger06]

I occasionally fix and check out my girlfriend's mother's 94 Bronco. It has over 218k miles and hasn't been maintained too well. There are many things wrong with it, but a lot of them aren't worth fixing and/or I don't have the time and she doesn't have the money. I try to fix as much easy stuff as I can, and will at least make recommendations on what I think should be done. Last week the belt tensioner pulley disintegrated, so I replaced it. The belt looks pretty shot, so I recommended it be replaced, but left the old one on for now.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

My friends kid bought a 06 used taxi cab [former patrol car] with over 300K miles on it..He is a broke college student from a very poor family..He needed a oil change so I took his car into Mobil 1 Express and had it changed for him..Luckily it needed nothing else.

 

[cchase]

Originally Posted By: montero1
It's funny that when we do it (notice other items that need attention) for friends, it can be called "looking out for their safety", but if a dealer does it, they turn from dealership to "stealership."


That's oftentimes because you are looking out for a friends well being, and a dealer or mechanic is looking out for their bottom line.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I have in the past helped a friend with her old Honda Civic. If it was job I could do at home I would fix her car for her, and I always did her oil changes, brakes and tune-ups and would always look over the car for anything it might need done. Whether she would agree to any repairs depended on whether she could afford the parts.

I look out for my girlfriend's mother's car when she is here in Florida 6 months out of the year. It is a Ford Crown Vic and her husband took good care of it. He died 2 years ago and I look after her car now. Any time the car is here for an oil change or if she is just here to visit I will always look for any potential problems.

I always look for potential problems on my truck and gf's car too. It is always best to be proactive and if I see something that needs attention or needs repaired, I take care of it right away. I do all preventative maintenance usually ahead of the recommended schedule.

The difference between me and the dealership/stealership is I take care of the car to help out a friend or family member. I don't do it for profit. I don't charge labor and I don't add any markup to parts prices. I also don't recommend things that are not really needed just so I can make money from it.

 

[rslifkin]

I do oil changes in my mom's Jeep (although she pays for them), simply because a 4.0 WJ is stupidly easy to change the oil on, so I don't mind doing it. It also gives me a chance to look it over for other issues, but she's pretty good at noticing if something doesn't seem right. She likes it simply because whenever I do work on it, she just has to buy parts, as I don't charge her for labor.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: montero1
It's funny that when we do it (notice other items that need attention) for friends, it can be called "looking out for their safety", but if a dealer does it, they turn from dealership to "stealership."


It's not funny at all because most people here will help their friends/family for free or even provide their own materials costing them money, so they have absolutely no gain in recommending extra maintenance and are actually making more work for themselves since they will most likely be doing the extra work. So it is safe to say that these recommendations are trustworthy.

Dealerships on the other hand have some steep markups for fluid changes and other easy maintenance items and have vast interest in recommending work that is not needed.

 

[TooManyWheels]

I'm pondering whether the title of this thread would make good advertising for a repair facility.

It might attract some, repel others.

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Beyond that, I expect others to be responsible for themselves.


Excellent policy, Pop Rivet.

Depending on the circumstances, at some point one has to decide if you are enabling your "customer's/clients" and/or they are taking advantage of you. Your true friends should be returning favors on occasion if or when possible without asking (it's what friends do).

I seldom offer help to my friends anymore because I have 3 adult children that I assist on occasion. My free time is spoken for. I also worry just a bit about liability in today's Times.

Even with my kids, as they are becoming financially independent, my help is targeted to where it is most beneficial. Often, I do a major repair and tell them "you need to get this other item looked after" and what the consequences could be. After that, they pay the price if they don't listen to "knows all" dad.

I have tried to guide them towards being responsible, which you should be doing also for your friends.

 

[InvalidUserID]

The only cars, other than my own, that I work on are my girlfriend's car and my parent's cars. Everyone else is on their own though I'll happily give advice, if asked.

With the cars that I do work on, I have an obligation to make sure they are in good working order and safe. Since all the cars I work on are 10+ years old, there is ALWAYS something that could be replaced. It's just a matter of $$$ vs. need. If it's a major item, of course it gets replaced. If it's something like my leaky power steering hose, it'll get changed when I get around to it.

 

[antiqueshell]

Never!

No good deed goes unpunished.

The bottom line is if they are an adult they need to take personal responsibility for their lives.

The thing is that more often than not this person the OP speaks of can't afford to take the car in for basic service, but they CAN AFFORD CABLE TV, EXPENSIVE CELL PHONE SERVICE, EATING OUT, ECT.

No way am I going to help people like this. This is why our society is heading for collapse.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: InvalidUserID
The only cars, other than my own, that I work on are my girlfriend's car and my parent's cars. Everyone else is on their own though I'll happily give advice, if asked.

With the cars that I do work on, I have an obligation to make sure they are in good working order and safe. Since all the cars I work on are 10+ years old, there is ALWAYS something that could be replaced. It's just a matter of $$$ vs. need. If it's a major item, of course it gets replaced. If it's something like my leaky power steering hose, it'll get changed when I get around to it.


Interestingly, the cars I work are always under 5 years or 75k.

 

[tdpark]

I gave up helping people because they do not listen and are too cheap and then come complaining to me when things go south. I help my mom out on simple things like cabin filters and wiper blades as she has a great mechanic that has worked on our family cars for like 20 years.

Most people i know lease so they get new cars every 3-4 years. I am one of the few who drive their cars into the ground and actually try wrenching on them.

 

[InvalidUserID]

Actually, just as I posted I thought about it and there is ONE car out of of the six that doesn't apply to the 10+ year club: my mother's '04 Accord.

Though, in my defense, it is ALMOST 10 years old.

 

[sciphi]

I'll work on my parent's cars without issue. I'll also work on the wife's car without hesitation (she knows where I sleep

). Neighbors are limited to the ones I know well, and then offering assistance only. My brother tries to freeload off me, and even then he gets to do the dirty work while I hold the tools and offer advice. He did most of the work on his rust-bucket minivan's front brakes when he wore the pads down to metal. Those are the only cars I'll help out with, besides my own.

 

[slammds15]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Originally Posted By: montero1
It's funny that when we do it (notice other items that need attention) for friends, it can be called "looking out for their safety", but if a dealer does it, they turn from dealership to "stealership."


It's not funny at all because most people here will help their friends/family for free or even provide their own materials costing them money, so they have absolutely no gain in recommending extra maintenance and are actually making more work for themselves since they will most likely be doing the extra work. So it is safe to say that these recommendations are trustworthy.

Dealerships on the other hand have some steep markups for fluid changes and other easy maintenance items and have vast interest in recommending work that is not needed.


Dealerships... I love the "30 point inspection" for $80 bucks that can be done simply by standing near the car. "yup it has 4 tires, check! yup it has windows, check! yup it's a car, check!" I really don't feel sorry for the people who fall for these marketing ploys.

When it comes to working on friends cars, I concern myself with safety related issues.