- Joined
- Nov 29, 2009
- Messages
- 7,261
I consider a 3 or 4 year old truck brand new in my eyes.
Who peforms the service on your car?
- Thread starter Leo99
- Start date
- Status
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I remember a while back when my truck was only like 3 or 4 years old and I stopped by the dealer to grab a fuel filter and the sales guy acted like my truck was ancient, he's like man when you gonna trade that thing in? I was like why? Also I'm thinking to myself why would I even think about buying a truck from here when you talk to me like that.
I would of told him to stop pestering me and to [censored] off.
I remember a while back when my truck was only like 3 or 4 years old and I stopped by the dealer to grab a fuel filter and the sales guy acted like my truck was ancient, he's like man when you gonna trade that thing in? I was like why? Also I'm thinking to myself why would I even think about buying a truck from here when you talk to me like that.
I would of told him to stop pestering me and to [censored] off.
I do almost all my maintence, if I need a lift to do a job or if I need special tools that I don't want to buy I'll hire the work out.
I do all my own work and if I can't my brother can. He's a mechanic. I love when I buy a car and turn down the dealership extended warranties. They look at me like I'm a moron. I always tell them no matter what it is I can fix it cheaper then the cost of their horrendous warranties, where they leave themselves outs in the fine print.
I do as much as I can myself but have a great indy for things beyond my scope. He is so good that the money I spend is better suited for him to do it then me..saves me alot of time!
Ditto on sales people being rather clueless. The guy who sold me the Traverse was trying to tell me adding the factory towing package (it was used) just involves bolting on the trailer hitch and plugging in the wiring harness. Uh no, a little more than that; try multiple wiring harnesses, a different radiator, external trans oil cooler, tow mode switch for the dash, a couple of relays, new fuse block under the hood... On the other hand, he was impressed I had done all the maintenance on the Honda CR-V I was trading in and had kept all the records since it was new. He wanted to buy it for his daughter, and while she was skeptical of it already having 130,000 miles on it, he was trying to convince her "Believe me, you would want this guy's car, he took good care of it.".
I do all the routine stuff myself, except tires and alignments. Brakes, rotations, fluid changes, spark plugs, most minor repairs I can do myself. I did my own alignment on the Midget since the only adjustment it has is toe in and wasn't hard to do with some improvised tools.
I do all the routine stuff myself, except tires and alignments. Brakes, rotations, fluid changes, spark plugs, most minor repairs I can do myself. I did my own alignment on the Midget since the only adjustment it has is toe in and wasn't hard to do with some improvised tools.
I DIY depending on how much time I have and on whether I want to fool with it. The Jeep, Club Sport, and Mini are the easiest to work on. My BMW dealer and a couple of local indie shops provide excellent service so I feel confident letting them perform the service or repairs I don't want to deal with.
My father was a mechanic and waist gunner on B-24 Liberators in WW2. He was an ace shadetree mechanic who viewed taking anything anywhere for other than warranty work or exhaust / muffler work as a sign of failure. Consequently this is how my brother & I were raised.
I'm not the same level as my father and my flexibility isn't the same as when I was younger but thankfully I have a bit more discretionary spending budget now. I still keep up with any bulbs, wipers, filters, spark plugs, and most fluid changes; however I don't have a good way to capture coolant so I did farm that out. Brakes I farm out mainly due to time window to get the vehicle back on the road. Tires and alignment I buy lifetime deals and use the heck outa 'em (every 5K miles or sooner if needed).
Fortunately where I now live has like an indy mechanic mercenary service called Bring Your Own Parts.
http://www.bringyourownparts.com/
If I don't want to tackle something myself I can take the parts there and just pay labor and shop fee. I've had no problems with attempted upsell but that may be because they recognize I DIY a lot and don't want to offend me and lose my business on the things I take to them. I took them coolant concentrate and distilled water, and they returned any parts they didn't use, and definitely performed a DW flush between drain & fill based on remaining DW when they were done, and they handled all used coolant fluid capture and recycling / disposal. The techs have all been courteous and friendly, they probably don't see many customers who DIY much these days.
I'm not the same level as my father and my flexibility isn't the same as when I was younger but thankfully I have a bit more discretionary spending budget now. I still keep up with any bulbs, wipers, filters, spark plugs, and most fluid changes; however I don't have a good way to capture coolant so I did farm that out. Brakes I farm out mainly due to time window to get the vehicle back on the road. Tires and alignment I buy lifetime deals and use the heck outa 'em (every 5K miles or sooner if needed).
Fortunately where I now live has like an indy mechanic mercenary service called Bring Your Own Parts.
http://www.bringyourownparts.com/
If I don't want to tackle something myself I can take the parts there and just pay labor and shop fee. I've had no problems with attempted upsell but that may be because they recognize I DIY a lot and don't want to offend me and lose my business on the things I take to them. I took them coolant concentrate and distilled water, and they returned any parts they didn't use, and definitely performed a DW flush between drain & fill based on remaining DW when they were done, and they handled all used coolant fluid capture and recycling / disposal. The techs have all been courteous and friendly, they probably don't see many customers who DIY much these days.
Last edited:
I do as much of the work as possible myself. I was a flunky type at a service station back when I was a kid, so I learned quite a bit there.
Most of the time it's stuff I'm familiar with. Sometimes there's a learning curve, manuals and YouTube help there.
I avoid oil change shop chains and dealerships. They have a lot of overhead and there seems to be a lot of pressure for the unneeded up sale.
Work I can't handle, inspection, alignment, new tires, the problem I can't figure out, go to an indie garage where I've developed a working relationship with the owner. In this case, while the garage may be "picky" I don't feel I'm getting an unneeded up sale, and I'm OK with that.
Most of the time it's stuff I'm familiar with. Sometimes there's a learning curve, manuals and YouTube help there.
I avoid oil change shop chains and dealerships. They have a lot of overhead and there seems to be a lot of pressure for the unneeded up sale.
Work I can't handle, inspection, alignment, new tires, the problem I can't figure out, go to an indie garage where I've developed a working relationship with the owner. In this case, while the garage may be "picky" I don't feel I'm getting an unneeded up sale, and I'm OK with that.
How many of you can rebuild your transmissions if they quit ?
I can, but my trans guy is so good and so cheap that all we ever do is R&R them and drop them off at his shop. We pretty much do anything else in house and have for years.
*I too do as much work on my vehicles as possible with the exception of tires & alignments.
*I have done shocks & struts but have also had them done by a shop.
*Many items such as e.g. gas tanks, I'll remove & install them but may have to send them out for a proper repair & pressure test.
*I don't do all exhaust work but I do as much as I can given my tools(or lack of) & facility.
*I do not own torches but, I have an angle grinder that has gotten me through many issues.
*Nor do I own an A/C manifold set. However, I can fill the A/C system with a can of R-134a and my single filler hose w/gauge. I know it's not the proper way but, I'm doin' OK!
*I have done shocks & struts but have also had them done by a shop.
*Many items such as e.g. gas tanks, I'll remove & install them but may have to send them out for a proper repair & pressure test.
*I don't do all exhaust work but I do as much as I can given my tools(or lack of) & facility.
*I do not own torches but, I have an angle grinder that has gotten me through many issues.
*Nor do I own an A/C manifold set. However, I can fill the A/C system with a can of R-134a and my single filler hose w/gauge. I know it's not the proper way but, I'm doin' OK!
I perform none of the service on my vehicles as my time is far more valuable to me than the few $100's that it costs to get these things done by someone else.
I've been alternating oil changes between myself and the dealer. It's easier to get the tires rotated at the dealer since I don't have an impact wrench, but I actually enjoy changing my oil to a point. On my last car, a 2002 Elantra that I took to 198,000 miles, I did some more extensive work. I did front brakes, flushed coolant a couple of times, fixed a valve cover gasket, and some emissions parts. I did farm out transmission and suspension work as well as a timing belt. I looked at the directions for the timing belt and gladly farmed that out to the dealer, as it would have cost me more in tools and time than to just let them do it. The dealer was also the only place I could rent a car at the time because I wasn't quite 25 and needed to drive for work.
im not really mechanically inclined but long ago when cars were simpler and i was younger i used to change my own oil, etc. now i let the dealer do it, as well as other maintenance. that said i am a car nut, follow car news and regularly attend car shows in u.s., canada and overseas. 90% of car salesman are breathtaking in their cluelessness and apathy. if my kids' food depended on me selling something you can bet that i would educate myself about it.
I do everything except tires, alignments, and body work, although I'm considering learning to do body work and doing some stuff myself. I would probably farm out major internal engine and transmission work, although I've never had to do either yet. I once farmed out a differential rebuild, and I'm strongly considering getting the tools to do that myself for next time.
Time isn't much of an issue for me - fixing cars is my hobby and there isn't much else I'd rather be doing, so time spent wrenching isn't time wasted. I also have plenty of cars to drive while one is down - my Accord has been down for repairs for over a month now and I've been super busy. I've been working on it a little bit at a time when I can find the time. I'm not in any rush; the truck and the Bronco get me back and forth to work just fine in the meantime.
Time isn't much of an issue for me - fixing cars is my hobby and there isn't much else I'd rather be doing, so time spent wrenching isn't time wasted. I also have plenty of cars to drive while one is down - my Accord has been down for repairs for over a month now and I've been super busy. I've been working on it a little bit at a time when I can find the time. I'm not in any rush; the truck and the Bronco get me back and forth to work just fine in the meantime.
I have to do everything, but I am a dealer tech with a hoist. :lol:
I've never rebuilt a transmission. Before I got married both my daily driver and fun cars were manual transmissions, for decades. This is one of the cases where vehicle downtime being unavailable would drive me to not only farm it out but also swap it out unless it's something simple.
I used to do a lot of my own maintenance, but nowadays pretty much just the simpler, quicker stuff. I just have too many irons in the fire to spend a lot of time on my personal car and pickup. Besides, I also have maintenance to do on commercial equipment also. That is along with operating the stuff and running a business. Doesn't leave a lot of luxury time to spend working on the car or pickup for other than basic stuff like oil and fluid changes and such.
After having a few bad experiences with other people's work, I do as much as I can on my own and my family's vehicles. I do have access to a garage and air tools which is a huge help. When I was 16-17 I didn't do much DIY since it meant working outside on a sloped driveway.
- Status
