Why can't you do my $200K + car?!

[Argabarga]

Wow, I've met plenty of people who think that their Jeep Cherokee or Chevy Cavalier was a rare gem of a car that would be ruined if we slack-jawed yokel tow truck guys even LOOKED at it funny, but I"ve never heard of someone with a high end car who DEMANDED a person with self-admittedly no tools or training work on one anyway...

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Thank god my Loki (yes, I named my car, shutup) is a nice and normal Kia Rio. So it'll take whatever.

We've always had a habit of naming our vehicles too. We're down to just one right now .. . . the 1992 Toyota Corolla, nicknamed Bonnie Blue.

But it does sound logical that if one has such an expensive vehicle, then it's probably safer to take it to a dealership that sells and services that particular make. Besides, if one has the money to splurge on a $200K car, then they should have no trouble (theoretically) of being able to afford the upkeep.

[Lady J'ssem]

We name our cars as well, though currently only mine has a real name (Evil Skylark!). We've had the Leporsy truck (so many layers a paint topped with white and all the layers were chipped, and it was so rusted you could look down to watch the road....) But we used to have, many years ago, an old blue station wagon that we named Lulu Belle.... We even came up with a song for it.

I got my pedal to the metal and I'm doing 45
Come on little Lulu Belle, get up and drive
My windshield's all fogged up and I can't see the road
Come on little Lulu Belle, get up and go.

[protege]

Could we hear the story of that?

Basically, they ripped me off. At the time, the car was being restored. However, by the time it was nearly road-ready, I'd bought a house. Not sure if I could afford to finish things, I told them to get all of the heavy work done (putting the engine back in, rewiring it, redoing the brakes, etc.) and I'd finish up the small jobs. Most of what was left, involved putting the interior carpeting back in, and tidying things up.

But, once I got the car home, I found quite a few things that they either didn't do at all, or managed to screw up. All of the things they screwed up, including some fuel-line leaks (cheap line, which sprung a massive leak ), I had to have redone by someone else...at my own expense, of course. Throw in a few double-charged parts on the invoices, and a few *lost* parts, and I wasn't happy. Pissing me off further, was the car's breaking down on its maiden voyage home About this time, they quit answering their phones or returning messages. When I'd go over there in person to ask, the owner would mysteriously "vanish," and the owner's son...wouldn't pass along messages. In other words, they didn't give a shit.

After the car broke down, and was towed back (AAA is great at picking up stricken classics ), I was told that the car would be repaired in a week or two. Again, no phone calls, more wasted time, and yours truly getting pissed off. Car was over there for several months, until the next spring. I picked it up, drove home (with my father tailing me in the Corolla), and things turned to shit. That's when I found the leak in the fuel line, the windshield washer jets inoperative, no horns, and a few other annoying things, including the double-charges on some parts. For some parts, I'd been charged twice; for others, I'd been charged...but the parts weren't on the car!

After finding all that out, I was furious. I was literally ready to go over there with a bat. Instead, my father and I hatched a plan--why not make the bastard squirm a little? We went through all of the invoices, drew up an outline of the double-charges, the missing items etc. But, the best evidence we had...was that the shop had committed inspection fraud!

What's that, you ask? Simple. Pennsylvania requires an annual safety inspection on motor vehicles. Several counties also make you get an emissions test as well. Since the MG was built before 1970, it's exempt from the emissions test. But, it still has to go through the safety test as long as I keep the 'classic' plates on it. Two of 3 things I mentioned before--the missing horns, the inoperative wiper jets, as well as the non-working hazard lights--would have been enough to fail the car. Yet, it had a passing sticker on it?

One of dad's high-school classmates was an attorney just up the road from the garage. They'd been friends for years, and he said it would be no problem if we wanted to Cc: him on the letter. We did, and when my father went over there to drop it off...as the shop owner was reading it...the color literally drained out of his face I had him by the balls, and he knew it! He knew he had to take care of things, otherwise I'd take his ass to small-claims court...and I'd win.

End result was that I had to take the car back over there, and have them redo much of the stuff they screwed up. While I was at it, I drew up another list of work I wanted done. Little things like fitting the main carpets, bolting the seats in *properly* and rewiring the dashboard so all the gauge lights actually worked.

Why did all this crap happen? Simple--the shop staff was more interested in putzing around with their various race cars. Except for the engine, brakes, and body work, they threw the car together quickly so I'd quit bugging them, and because they didn't think I'd know better. Never mind that the car had been in the family since my uncle bought it in '69, and that I'd actually stripped the car for restoration back in '95 or so. They thought that I'd never check their work!

Other than picking up the car one last time, I haven't been back to that place since. With Eric @ Pep Boys so close, and with the MGB message boards open 24/7, it's much easier either getting work done, or doing it myself.

...and now that I've bored everyone to tears, let's get back to the idiot with the Ferrari. From what I understand, the only place where you can even get the necessary oils and filters, are from a Ferrari dealer. There's literally *no* aftermarket parts for these cars. Also, those engines are pretty sophisticated, and built to extremely close tolerances. That's why they're so expensive to maintain. So far, I've heard that an oil change for one is about $700, a set of brake pads is about $6,000, brake rotors about $24,000 and a cambelt change is about $10,000.

[EricKei]

What on earth is required that an oil change costs as much as I paid for my entire truck?

Well, given that it's a rather rare exotic...Here's my guess:

Oil: $200

Filter(s): $50

Labor: $40 (their cost), $400 (your cost)

Insurance against damage/theft/etc: $1000

The Ferrari Name: around $8k

Tax: whatever's left

Sound about right? ^_^

[lordlundar]

Well, given that it's a rather rare exotic...Here's my guess:

Oil: $200

Filter(s): $50

Labor: $40 (their cost), $400 (your cost)

Insurance against damage/theft/etc: $1000

The Ferrari Name: around $8k

Tax: whatever's left

Sound about right? ^_^

Couldn't tell you. I saw the manufacture of one on a show a while back and they mentioned the price for an oil change and brake pad replacement ($25k in case you're wondering) and they only said "company secret" as to why.

[XCashier]

Personally, I think anybody who takes their mega-exotic male enhancement vehicle to the nearest Jiffy Lube for an oil change deserves whatever bad may befall their car....If I ever had a car like that, and I never ever will but I can dream, you better believe it's only going to be worked on by people who work exclusively on that brand of car and know it inside and out.

If someone can afford a fancy-schmancy car like that, they can bloody well afford the proper maintenance on it. Take it to the dealer or other certified mechanics. Otherwise, just get a high-end version of a more common vehicle.

Your local grocery store might be a great place to buy apples, bread, cereal, but you're not likely to find caviar, fugu, Alba madonna truffles or other exotic edibles there, are you? Same principle applies here.

[Exaspera]

Jaguar for instance also makes it so every time you change the oil you have to replace the oil pan bolt with a $30 drain plug. I know because my boss at the pharmacy used to have me stop at the jag dealership and pick up the plug so his local mechanic could change the oil.

He must have a real spayshull Jag because the 3 that Mr. E and I have don't need a new plug for an oil change, Puff, Guinnevere and the Limo, btw.

[Shalom]

Of course, watching someone with a Viper at the 20-minute oil change place the other day was amusing--the mechanics couldn't figure out how to open the hood

I've been driving a 1988 Chevy T-10 Blazer for the past 16+ years. Back when I lived in another city, I had a mechanic whose personal vehicle was also a T-10 Blazer, so he basically knew everything about the vehicle, including the places to be lubed that most mechanics aren't aware are there... it so happened, just before I moved here, that he'd hired a new kid and turned him loose on my truck. I suspect he wanted to see what would happen... anyway I was waiting outside the bay and saw him under the truck, which was up on the lift, looking around with a flashlight. I knew what he was looking for, but I didn't say anything until he turned around and said, "OK, I give up. Where the heck is the oil filter?"

(The truck's undercarriage is armor-plated, which was a factory option that year. There's no room for the oil filter in the standard location due to this. That's it in the picture.)

[bean]

Seriously though, many exotic auto manufacturers have it in the warranty somewhere, that going to an unauthorized garage will actually void the warranty.

In the US anyway, this is illegal under current warranty laws. HOWEVER, if the garage uses inferior parts, that will very much void the warranty, if a warranty claim comes up and the dealer is able to provide solid evidence that the garage's parts or work contributed to a failure.

Plus, supercars like that - if you're ever going to sell it, the new owner will want METICULOUS service and inspection records, and they want it ONLY from a dealer if it's relatively new. if it's older, they want it from a specialist that only works on that particular car, and want documents since the day it was new. Simply not having that documentation can drop the car's value by over 50% on a supercar. On something a little more pedestrian like a Porsche, it still takes a bit off the value if you're selling to a collector.

Even on everyday cars, get anything warranty related done at the dealer, but get regular maintenance done at a reliable shop (preferably a specialist that uses OEM parts). Out of warranty, if it's a car you don't care about, take it to any random shop. I don't care much about my current car, but I've been using the same shop for 13 years now - the guys in his shop are the only people allowed to ever open the hood of my car (besides myself), and I drive a boring 2001 Honda Accord. The shop I use specializes in Hondas and can be a little pricey, but they stand behind their work 100% and don't try to nickle and dime you ("Ok, this part is definitely failing.. it's not a safety hazard, it's more of an emissions issue, so you can drive it until your smog stick expires, we can handle it then if you want").

Long version short: If it's an expensive car, you can obviously afford the expensive maintenance, don't cheap out and ruin the car or collectors value. If it's a "normal" car, find a trustworthy mechanic, preferably one that specializes in your car, before the warranty runs out.

[LadyAndreca]

My car, a '95 Ford Escort, is the first one I ever named. It's Thumper. Why? Because it kicks like a scared rabbit if I try to shift gears too soon. Something left over from when the radiator went and overheated the car, and I dumped an entire jug of coolant in there and limped to the garage without a tow...

It's a piece of crap with rust on the hood and doors, piss poor acceleration most of the time, a cracked front bumper, 290,000 miles on it, and no A/C. If I had to make a long trip, I'd rent a car rather than trust mine. But it's got good gas mileage and gets me to work and class, so I will keep driving it until something expensive enough goes on it that it's cheaper to buy a new (used) car.

[Exaspera]

My car, a '95 Ford Escort, is the first one I ever named. It's Thumper. Why? Because it kicks like a scared rabbit if I try to shift gears too soon. Something left over from when the radiator went and overheated the car, and I dumped an entire jug of coolant in there and limped to the garage without a tow...

It's a piece of crap with rust on the hood and doors, piss poor acceleration most of the time, a cracked front bumper, 290,000 miles on it, and no A/C. If I had to make a long trip, I'd rent a car rather than trust mine. But it's got good gas mileage and gets me to work and class, so I will keep driving it until something expensive enough goes on it that it's cheaper to buy a new (used) car.

AND you can leave the windows down in any parking lot and NO ONE will touch it. No one will even park near it.

[smileyeagle1021]

This is why I'm glad I drive a simple Nissan (unlike my apparantly complex Suzuki which needed dealership only work...) I can go into any Jiffy Lube and get what I need. If I had an exotic car, I wouldn't dream of taking it to Jiffy Lube... thought they do still have trouble finding the air filter

[protege]

I knew what he was looking for, but I didn't say anything until he turned around and said, "OK, I give up. Where the heck is the oil filter?"

He'd have a field day with my MG--the oil filter simply isn't marked, and nothing about it screams "this is the filter." It's actually a paper-element type, which is hidden in a vertical canister. Messy as hell, and can't be removed from under the car...unless you have one of the later (1973-on, IIRC) cars. I've attached a photo--the filter canister is on the right. Pic was taken while I was fitting an electronic ignition, hence the disassembled distributor. Oh, and the black hose is one of the oil cooler lines.

[Shalom]

He'd have a field day with my MG--the oil filter simply isn't marked, and nothing about it screams "this is the filter." It's actually a paper-element type, which is hidden in a vertical canister. Messy as hell, and can't be removed from under the car...unless you have one of the later (1973-on, IIRC) cars. I've attached a photo--the filter canister is on the right. .

You mean that red thing on the right with the hex nut on its head? If that's it, I never would have guessed, but then I'm not a mechanic myself.

Can you still get the filter element at your ordinary parts store, or do you have to get it at a specialty place? (Or online?) I have a feeling that if somewhere like Strauss was to get one of those on the truck, they'd probably shelve it with the air filters...