a lot of regulations are there for a reason. In my experience, ( most, not all) people who gripe about regs. are the first to gripe when a regulation has not been followed.
Ever run into the old, I only need it to last 6 more months, crowd?
- Thread starter doublebase
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+1
I used to get these people all the time. The only way to deal with them is to quote the job doing it right and then stick to your guns. Don't compromise the quality of your work for these chislers, they will sell you out in a heartbeat. BTW, if the customer agrees to do the job, go ahead and dump some oil in it and charge him for it (include it in your price quote), that way when he blows the engine you can rightly tell him that it was his fault, and you can prove it. Also, make sure that you document the worn-out tires on the receipt and tell the customer about them.
Haha. I always reply I'm sure he is.
The State Troopers here in La. love to pull 18 wheelers over. They're always giving them the "WHOLE 9 YARDS" inspection on the side of the road.
Part of the resistance to safety inspections is that at some places it is a scam, where they tell people something fails based on the good chance that person will have them do the repair. It's even more underhanded when they try to pull the "we can't let you leave with the vehicle like that unless we repair it", which escalates into the threat "you either pay to tow it or we'll call the police". Sometimes well intentioned shops do this but when it's based on trying to sell a repair before its time, let alone outright fraud, it stinks.
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I love the high mileage stories like yours. I used to spend somewhere around $1,000 a year in parts for my Lexus LS460...miss that car. When it got to 179,000 miles it started burning a quart every 500-700 miles and it also needed a brake actuator ($2,000), tires and brakes...it also needed a passenger side power mirror (a turkey ran into the car while I was doing 75 on the highway, I’m serious).
So I cut the car loose and traded it in. If it weren’t for the oil consumption I would have done all those repairs and probably still be driving it today - but I won’t do repairs on something with higher mileage if it’s drinking oil and the rings are shot. I kept great care of that car too...kind of bugged me that the rings gave out so soon.
I have a few small engine customers who are like this with both their equipment and their vehicles. They can definitely afford new ones, but just chose not to. One has a 20 year old home depot special riding mower that I've probably welded the deck on about 4 times, it burns about a 1/4 quart of oil every use, and the tires all go flat after a week. His truck is rusting apart and each corner has a different brand/tread pattern of tire.
That’s awesome! Thanks for posting that. I’m going to do it that way with our new 4Runner, even though it’ll never be sold.
I hate to sound judgemental, but those are the kind of people who should move to the city and ride a bike, the bus or take a Lyft/Uber. Cars need maintenance - if not for you and your money, it’s for others and their safety.
That's the annoying part about used car shopping. Anything beyond the first owner, people never seem to keep maintenance records and the common response is "it's never needed work other than oil changes". A vehicle with 10+ year old coolant, brake fluid, ATF, power steering fluid sitting there never being changed sounds like a recipe for a future problem.
Because to a lot of people, cars are just a tool. $20k may seem like a lot of money but in reality, it is only 2-3 months of months of living expenses to a lot of working families.
Yikes, I'm not in that category.
$3-$4k/mo for a mortgage, $2k/kid per month for childcare; it is easy to surpass $10k/mo in expenses.
I don't live in that region thankfully. Our expenses are considerably less.
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You do have a point, there is a lot more to a car than just changing that oil and taking care of that engine. It's everything else that can kill you.
All the people that say...I drove it to 350,000 miles, all it needed was oil changes...either are liars or have a really bad memory.
Yeah or they were driving around in death traps with everything falling apart. I've always had to do stuff like springs/struts, ball joints, tie rods, sway bar links, not to mention brakes, thermostats, coolant hoses, belts etc.
The ones that do nothing could be those cars you hear wheezing down the street, sometimes you try and guess if maybe the bearing is blown, tensioner/pully bad or just a bad belt from the noises they make when they go by.
since we are talking about junkers.. what makes a 2000ish buick (3.8) sound like a really loud sewing machine..
new coworker has one... sounds like its about to blow.. I doubt she could scrape up more than 100-200$
I considered asking if she ever checked the oil level.. but thought it might be rude.
new coworker has one... sounds like its about to blow.. I doubt she could scrape up more than 100-200$
I considered asking if she ever checked the oil level.. but thought it might be rude.
