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.

Enter a new day with fresh possibilities and after morning coffee we are ready to take on the world.   But wait… in walks the customer from yesterday and she proceeds to tell us that she called the Toyota dealer and “they don’t charge for bulb installation”.  She doesn’t want her money back but she wants us to know, that she knows that she has been taken advantage of or so she thinks.

We now are at the core of the issue.  Dealers rarely do anything for free.   While in this instance they may have sent out a junior staff member to change the bulb, things would have stopped once he/she realized that the taillight had to be removed to get to the bulb.  But this isn’t what I want to talk about.  I really just want to vent, you see this customer has forgotten about all the things I have done for free.  The “dealer” will charge you  $119 each and every time they scan your vehicles computer.  This particular vehicle had an instance 6 months ago where its engine light had come on several times for different fault codes.  I only charged her once at $59 and scanned the car two more times for free over the next month.  You can figure out the savings on your own.

The moral of the story is that regardless where you take your vehicle, do yourself a favour and develop a relationship with a shop that is dependent on trust.   Look at your overall year expenditures and if your relationship is based on trust, then don’t sweat the small stuff.

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.

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

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

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.

To be fair, that ’92 Accord was a technological dinosaur compared to today’s standards, but most vehicles made by Honda and Toyota were at their best during this period and they haven’t really managed to recapture that same magic.  The magic I’m referring deals with the fit and finish,  ergonomics and reliability.   Other than the rust factor, the ’92 Honda Accord was simply indestructible, your teenage son could beat this car every Friday night and hand the keys back to mom without her having a clue as to the torture it had just been subjected.   Comparatively, I now know exactly when J’r. is behind the wheel by just watching mom and dad’s repair bills skyrocket.

So are today’s cars better?   Well, technology marches on and 20 years is a life time in the electronics industry.   Advanced crumple zones, multitudes of occupant air bags, traction control and advanced ABS all make today’s vehicle  much safer.  Traveling from A to B is also going to use far less fuel and who can live without their bluetooth and GPS enabled dashboards.

So I guess we can conclude that today’s cars are better, but are they cheaper to maintain?   A gigantic no on this one.    Manufacturer cost cutting measures mean that many pieces once made of aluminum are now made out of plastic.

Those monster 19 inch wheels may look great in the show room but the fact is most of those tires are “V” rated and will be worn out in less than 60,000 kilometres.  Wait until you get the replacement bill on a set of tires.  In order to get all the electronic modules like your bluetooth radio and GPS talking to each other we need digital modules to direct all the electronic traffic.  Technician skill level is at an all-time high (labour rates reflect skill level) and eventually you will feel the pocket book pain once the shielding of the auto manufacturer warranty has expired.

I could go on and on but I think you get the point.   I’d love to take the ‘92 Accord around the block for nostalgia purposes but it’s the ’12 Accord for the win.  I guess I’m a sucker for all the features on the new car and I’m willing to live with the maintenance costs, but then again I don’t pay myself to fix my own car.

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).

Most drivers have an insurance deductible that is $500 or greater.  Lets assume for a second that the car you are following one fine winters day is equipped with a full set of winter tires, suddenly that car needs to perform a “Hello… what are they thinking” panic stop.  It has a 20-30 ft stopping advantage, you don’t.  Uh-oh, guess who just rear ended that brand new BMW.   Your insurance company is going to love you.   The cost of your  insurance deductible would have  paid for your tires and as an added bonus you’re going to have to pay larger premiums over the next few years.  As a side note, most insurance companies now offer a discount when you are have a set of winter tires installed.

Argument #2 is regarding longevity, you are switching between two sets of tires giving  the other set a break 6 months of the year, translating into half the wear and doubling their life span.

Yes, unfortunately there is an up front cost, but it’s justifiable.   Most people have the thought process that when they buy a set of winter tires that they are spending for a luxury item which simply isn’t the case.  I have sold countless sets of winter tires based on my sales pitch… I have yet had a single person come back and tell me that they feel their hard earned cash was wasted on winter tires.

There are so many things in life that I can’t control.  What I can control I will.  My family will never be without a car sporting winter tires, even if it were only one time per winter.

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.

In Canada, every year 30 children between the age of 0-4 are killed in vehicle crashes, an additional 2866 are injured.  There is statistical evidence that shows that proper car seat use decreases the likelihood of injury by %70 and fatality by %90.    The St John ambulance training guide also states that less than %10 of car seats are installed correctly.  I figure my clients are at %40 because I have personally installed hundreds of their car seats.

0-20lbs (9kg) Rear facing… this is a minimum defined by Transport Canada.. In reality keeping your child rear facing at least to 22 lb (10kg) and the ability to walk should be the minimum.

20 – 65lbs (9 – 30kg) Forward Facing… when the child has the ability to walk and meets the minimum weight requirements.   The tether strap must be installed when forward facing.

40 – 80 lbs (18-36kg) Boosters… vehicle seat belts do not sit properly over the pelvis, abdomen and shoulder of children at this stage without the use of a properly fitted booster.  40 lbs is a minimum and if your child is not large enough to fit properly in a booster you can keep them in their car seat.  Check your cars seat owners manual for exact weight limitation.

>80lbs (36kg) Seat Belts… congrats you might be ready to get rid of the booster.  Check to make sure the seat belt rides over the abdomen and shoulder correctly paying particular attention that it does not sit across the child’s face.

Car seats cannot be in the front seat of a vehicle equipped with a SRS air bag system unless the vehicle has the ability to defeat (turn off) the passenger air bag system.

The safest place for your child is the rear centre posistion.

Your car seat may have a recall, please check it at the manufactures web site.

Your car seat has an expire date stamped on it… if you can’t find it that means its really old and shouldn’t be used… also don’t buy used seats unless you know the previous owners really well and the seat has not been in involved in an accident. Hell don’t be cheap, your kid deserves a new seat more than you deserve a new flat screen TV or Ipod.

My wiggle test consists of this:

The car seat is to have absolutely no movement forward/backwards, and I mean no movement.  When I’m tightening a car seat I kneel in and put my full weight into it so as to make it as tight as humanly possible.  You want the seat to be as tight  as if it came manufactured there.  Side to side movement should be no more than 1 inch.

Hope this helps… if all else fails “read the owners manual”  If you are  still unsure come to one of St John days or if you can’t make that call us and schedule an appointment with me and I’ll check it for you…

**disclamer** the above is generalized info that I have condensed to fit into this small blog… Do your own research as well.

There is loads of info at Transport Canada’s website…

cheers

Lou