Tomorrow, I get to end all my winter driving frustrations and let my silly, pathetic male testosterone filled driving style flow freely. That’s right.. Auto Cross season starts tomorrow.
My Super 7 is not road worthy yet, however I can feel that my trusty Audi S4 is somehow trying to communicate with me chanting “put me in coach”.
If you are in the Brampton area tomorrow drop by the Bramalea Go Station (south parking lot) and say hi.. better yet, bring your own car and $25 and learn like I do (repeatedly) just how much driving skill it takes to pilot a car at through a couple of measly pylons.

Unravelling the mysteries of the auto repair business has been a 20 year journey, and I still learn something new everyday, including dealing with upset customers.   Fortunately, I have a thick skin and hopefully I can turn one’s negativity into positivity.  But let’s face it, I picked the wrong career.  Their aren’t too many career choices where you are immediately considered to be dishonest or expected to work for free… Well, I guess  being a lawyer could be worse but nobody expects them to work for free.

A customer with an older Toyota came in for an oil change and upon completion I noticed that the car had a brake light bulb burnt out.    Now, normally bulbs take less than 5 minutes to replace and we usually don’t charge for labour, but this bulb was different, it required complete removal of the taillight to get to it.  To make matters worse the car had a  pesky swinging tailgate that was in the way, too.    So we called the customer and asked her if she would like us to change the bulb. The total cost would be for 20 minutes labour plus the bulb.  The customer tells us to go ahead. She picks up the car at the end of the day, pays the bill and says goodbye.  All is good.. so I think.

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Rarely a day goes by that I don’t get a telephone call or email from one of my customers  inquiring about a used car.  Everyone seems to be looking for a used car or knows someone who is.  Being a used car dealer allows me into the world of dealer only auctions and factory off lease events.  But I am more of a spectator than a player.  I head out to the Toronto Auto Auction once every couple of months hoping to pick something up to satisfy one of the many requests for vehicles.

On almost every instance I come home with my ‘tail between my legs”.   My problem is always the price differential of what I see vehicles being listed on Kijiji and Autotrader  and what they are selling for at the auction.  More specifically, the lack of price differential.

Used car dealers are so desperate to move product and generate a little bit of income that they are selling cars at or just above their cost.   Why would they do this you ask?  Its all in the fees.. the $395 administration fee, the $495 Safety fee and  of course there are the payouts that are generated from placing the potential purchaser  with the highest risk finance company and warranty company.

I can’t compete, I don’t offer financing, I carry the load of the warranty internally and I don’t charge admin or safety fees which always makes my (realistic) price of my car look higher.  Next time you look at a used car on the internet, please keep in mind that this is rarely the out the door price.

Every young Auto Technician has that first moment when something goes horribly wrong and suddenly a sunny, happy day turns sour and gloomy.  My day came while working at a Honda Dealer in Mississauga.

I had just started my day with a quick oil change and tire swap and was parking the manual transmission Honda Accord I had just serviced.  Every good technician develops their own mental checklist.  Mine goes something like this, did I tighten the oil drain bolt, tighten wheels and torque to spec, did I put oil in the car?  Never would I have thought…does the car I am working on have a remote starter and is it properly installed?  I was about to find out the hard way.  Getting out of the car and walking back to the dealership office I decided to push the lock button on the remote I had in my hand, only I didn’t push the lock button I pushed the start button.

Queue dramatic music now.  The car proceeded to start on its own (remember I said it was a manual transmission) and since I had left it in first gear it took off across the parking lot, dragging the rear wheels, so much for the emergency brake. I watched in horror as this car went whizzing past several other brand new Hondas that hadn’t even been sold yet, went up a curb and finally crashed into a cement block perimeter wall.  Finally at rest, I watched (in what seemed like slow motion) as the wall collapsed onto the hood of the car.

I looked around trying to find a witness, anyone would do, anyone!  One of the clean up crew guys would come to my rescue having witnessed the whole thing from the wash bay.  It turns out the remote started had been installed improperly and the clutch override had been disabled.   When the dust settled I was not faulted and the customer of the car admitted that he asked the install facility to bypass the manual transmission safety switch.  What he was not expecting was when the dealer asked him and eventually his insurance company to repair the damaged perimeter wall.

Cheers

Lou

All About Imports is proud to be sponsoring the Push it to The Limit Autoslalom series along with Scion Canada.  We are looking forward to another exciting summer and hopefully Lou’s Super 7 will make an appearance mid summer once all the repairs are completed to the car.

Almost daily, I get asked the question “what do you drive”? 15 years ago the answer was a Honda. I have lost count of how many Honda’s I have had. (somewhere in the mid teens) I was trained by Honda, lived and breathed Honda. My time at the Acura dealer in the mid ‘90‘s helped me put a fair amount of seat time in customers Acura NSX’s in for those “test drive for high speed vibration” type of work orders. Yes, I love old NSX’s, if I didn’t have my Super 7, I would most definitely be driving an older NSX.

But that is not the kind of answer that those people asking the question of “what do I drive” are looking for. My daily driver is now an 2001 Audi S4 Avant (Wagon) and yes that is quite the about face from from my Honda Heritage. Why… because there are very few cars that excite me and none of them are currently coming from Honda. When we hired Terry our Audi Technician I started test driving all kinds of Audi’s and fell in love with the way they drive. Now I have all the power of a NSX, all wheel drive and the ability to pick up the kids and get groceries at the same time. A winning combination if you are asking me?

cheers
Lou

Let’s say you could go back in time, about 20 years and somehow teleport a brand new 1992 Honda Accord into 2012.  (I know the first thing you are going to say is that if you could time travel you wouldn’t be wasting your time on a 1992 Accord.)  Just humour me  for a moment, you have a brand new 1992 Honda Accord sitting next to a 2012 Accord.    Besides the novelty factor of the ’92, which car are you taking home?

I was a young technician at a local GTA Honda dealer in the early 90’s so this car has a special place in my heart.  To me it showed off Honda’s engineering and manufacturing team and it was during this period that Japanese auto manufacturers really started taking a bite out of North American sales.

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There are two things I really get bent out of shape about, improperly installed car seats and people who refuse to even consider winter tires.  Since winter is just around the corner, let’s focus on the latter.

Every year during this time, I have countless conversations with customers over the importance of winter tires.  While perceptions are slowly changing, resistance still seems inherent to some.  My main argument has always been centered around the stopping distance advantage that a car equipped with winter tires has over a vehicle with all season tires. How many close calls did you have last winter?   Assume for a second that you could stop your car 20-30 ft sooner than the car in front of you.  What’s that worth to you?  The Ministry of Transportation in Quebec supports justification of their mandatory snow tire law stating that the use of winter tires shortens stopping distance by 25% and reduces fender-benders by 38%.

The fact is that below 7ºC all season tires start to show the first signs of loss of traction, at -5ºC they are essentially useless.   Enter the winter tire, engineered to start functioning at these lower temps.  These tires are made from special compounds designed to grip the road in the snow, the freezing rain and even those sunny yet bitterly cold dry pavement days.

There are countless other arguments that can be made coaxing you into a set of winter tires including various highly technical articles (here are a couple of my simpler favorite pitches).

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I can’t help it, whenever I get into a customers vehicle for a test drive and there is a car seat in the back I instinctively grab it and give it a wiggle test…and  I test drive a lot of cars, 5 per day * 260 work days per year = 1300 per year give or take a few and out of that 1300 at least %30 have car seats in them.   That brings me to approximately 390 wiggle tests per year…  so how many pass the “Lou Wiggle Test” … maybe %40.   That number still shocks me.  I use to approach the failing customer and kindly, gently ask them if they would like assistance to correct their car seat, but now I rarely do.  I’ve been told off by a few fathers “mind my own business and just fix their car”

So now I try to work with St John Ambulance at least once a year and  host a car seat installation clinic using the wonderful volunteers from St John Ambulance.  I am a registered car seat tech with them so it gives me a day to brush up and  catch up on the latest car seat scuttle butt.

So here are some facts and install tips from St John Ambulance to help you figure out if you are in the “pass” group.

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Took this photo last night at the “S” bend on the Forks of  the Credit rd that leads to Belfountain.  If your an automotive enthusiast and you live in this area, you need to visit this road.  Even if you are not a “driver” this part of Ontario offers some incredibly beautiful photo opportunities and the Bruce trail for hikers.