Dealing with people who don't care-auto maintenance

My dad taught me mechanical sympathy, when I was young. I do think the Progressive commercials that we become our parents are true to life.

My wife was taught not to ride the clutch by my father in law. It was one of my criteria when I was dating. Let the woman drive my Maxima, and if her foot is on the clutch at a stop light, she’s out.

I once witnessed her cousin buy a Henkels knife (not forged but the middle grade stamped?). The relatives destroyed it upon the first use hacking some bones. They didn’t care. Me I would never do anything like that. Maybe, “care” has to be taught at a young age. At some point, people think “I can afford that and could not be bothered” 😂
How does "mechanical sympathy" come into play if the woman has her foot on the clutch or does something else to any vehicles. ;)
 
I have several people close to me, family who will not bring me their vehicles for maintenance, can't afford to replace it and complain to the 9's when something does happen. They buy the stuff, labor costs them nothing and they still don't have "time". I've even told them I will drive the 40 miles to go get their vehicle and do the work and drive it back, nope. How do y'all deal with that?
It's not like I enjoy sweating my tail off in 95* Texas heat. It's not like I'm trying to upsell them anything. If it starts and runs, it's fine...arrrg. This is both male and female family. I've been able to save money by running my stuff longer because I maintain it. Am I somehow privileged because of that, I don't know.
One of them owned that 2.2 Cobalt that I only saw once a year and it frequently went 18k + miles on oil changes. I told them I need it for a day to change the water pump. They said they didn't have time. Overheated the heck out of it, then took it to a local "mechanic" who changed the water pump. He said it was good, drove it to their house 4 miles down the road. They took the car to work the next morning 7 miles away and it overheated...it was done. I got the Dawn out and washed my hands of that car.
Just don't ask them to bring it by when I have time? Walk away when they tell me it needs a transmission rebuild for $3000 that they don't have? When they say it's falling apart, just say, yea, I know and chuckle?
If you deal with people that do this, how are you doing it?
If someone said buy the stuff and bring it by, I'd be all over it. If someone said, I'll come get it, do the work and bring it back to you, here are the keys..lol
There is a 3.8L oil guzzling Jeep and a Ford 3V 5.4 in the mix🤪

All you can do is lead a horse to water, but can't force it to drink. People are the same way, it's kind of you to offer, after that the choice is theirs, don't give it another thought.
 
I taught Mrs. Bullwinkle how to drive a clutch, so if she does it wrong, it's MY fault! Must be doing something right, she hasn't blown one up yet (37+ years & counting).
Clutches should last the life of the vehicle but for some reason was an item that could be routinely abused. I’ve never had one rebuilt and went over 250k on my ‘98, the car itself failed but not the clutch. The first section of the hose leaked and got replaced but not any of the clutch components.

Hold it down at all times such as when stopped.

Use it instead of the brakes to hold the vehicle on a hill.

Neutral drop it for fun.

Ill time gear changes.

My son likes to take care of things so I’m trying to tell him using your hockey stick, it’s going to bang other sticks and get all scratched up, and it’s ok. We don’t want it to break as it’s not fun seeing dollars with wings fly away at the rink, but you have to use it as it’s a tool…
 
One of my brothers is " too busy" to do preventative maintance, though he does do oil changes. Years ago he had a PT Cruiser with 70 somerhing thousand miles on it. I kept telling him about what an interferance engine was and that the timing belt breaks after 80 K miles, and what would happen and how much it cost to do that belt before it broke. His whole family was in it about 120 miles from home at 83 K miles on a highway entrance ramp when it went. It was then not worth repairing. After that, he now pays attention to what I tell him about his vehicles.
 
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I have several people close to me, family who will not bring me their vehicles for maintenance, can't afford to replace it and complain to the 9's when something does happen. They buy the stuff, labor costs them nothing and they still don't have "time". I've even told them I will drive the 40 miles to go get their vehicle and do the work and drive it back, nope. How do y'all deal with that?
It's not like I enjoy sweating my tail off in 95* Texas heat. It's not like I'm trying to upsell them anything. If it starts and runs, it's fine...arrrg. This is both male and female family. I've been able to save money by running my stuff longer because I maintain it. Am I somehow privileged because of that, I don't know.
One of them owned that 2.2 Cobalt that I only saw once a year and it frequently went 18k + miles on oil changes. I told them I need it for a day to change the water pump. They said they didn't have time. Overheated the heck out of it, then took it to a local "mechanic" who changed the water pump. He said it was good, drove it to their house 4 miles down the road. They took the car to work the next morning 7 miles away and it overheated...it was done. I got the Dawn out and washed my hands of that car.
Just don't ask them to bring it by when I have time? Walk away when they tell me it needs a transmission rebuild for $3000 that they don't have? When they say it's falling apart, just say, yea, I know and chuckle?
If you deal with people that do this, how are you doing it?
If someone said buy the stuff and bring it by, I'd be all over it. If someone said, I'll come get it, do the work and bring it back to you, here are the keys..lol
There is a 3.8L oil guzzling Jeep and a Ford 3V 5.4 in the mix🤪
Like they say "you can bring a horse to water........"

Many people these days are not "car" people. It gets me from point A to point B. Not interested beyond the minimum. But many like my daughter have busy lives with job, kids. I cannot say thatd wrong. I like engines and mechanical things. Daughter could care less. Different interestsml.
 
Imposter Syndrome?
I would say 40% Imposter Syndrome
The other 60% people are awful and like to rip each other down so people depending on their environment try to avoid standing out and shining.
Some people are outright afraid of displaying their intellectual prowess because they may have been conditioned since middle school not to get noticed or they will be attacked. That stuff stays with you for the rest of your life.
 
These people are the same ones who manage to run other things into the ground too. Dirty restaurants, hotels with bed bugs, amusement park rides that break apart and injure people, etc. Idiots who don't believe in maintaining things.

I have a buddy who is famous for asking for all sorts of 'tell me what you would do' car related questions. He will ask for advice then reaffirm the information for hours, formulating a step by step plan, then never act on it. I believe I'm telling him what he doesn't want to hear.
 
These people are the same ones who manage to run other things into the ground too. Dirty restaurants, hotels with bed bugs, amusement park rides that break apart and injure people, etc. Idiots who don't believe in maintaining things.

I have a buddy who is famous for asking for all sorts of 'tell me what you would do' car related questions. He will ask for advice then reaffirm the information for hours, formulating a step by step plan, then never act on it. I believe I'm telling him what he doesn't want to hear.
He's attempting to manipulate you into doing it for him
 
Many nowadays don't even know what's under the hood. I was getting out of my CRV and asked a man in his 30's "what under the hood" of his big Dodgd Ram 1500 "Texan" truck. His reply was "I'm not a mechanic". I have asked some other young men in the past about whats in their vehicle and they did not even know how many cylinders their engine has.
 
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I think its easy for us to forget our own little community here. We are a different and most, if not all, of us are mechanically inclined. It is heartbreaking to allow a quick change oil place to do the maintenance on my work truck. I'm not allow to touch it or do my own preventive maintenance, even discouraged from using higher octane fuel for a high performance 6.2 liter GM motor. And most of the others at work just look at the oil life monitor and won't service the truck until 5% or so. (but routinely go over the OLM by thousands of miles)

I am amazed by that, then I come in here to BITOG and get reminded we are different. I want my equipment to last and do preventive maintenance. Others seem to accept 150 dollar oil changes and 99 dollar filter installations. No thought about engines and transmissions that stop working other than spending 8-9,000 dollars to repair them. Then I realize we here are the exception not the majority. It is surprising sometimes but is not out of the norm. I am taking it in stride now, I used to be really uptight about it but now I just smile and nod.
 
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