Baby Blues by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott for November 14, 2022

Those car guys can be scammers… look out, Wanda..

No Wanda take the car somewhere else and get a second opinion.

A funeral for your credit card at least

Catalytic converter? We have a ton of them in our back room.

Is his name Ty Rodd?

They always do that with single female customers. Always bring someone who knows your car and tell the salesperson to bugger off when they begin to add nonexistent problems. That happened to me when I was a young single adult. I always said I came here for that ONE problem. I will ask my mechanic friend if my initial problem has anything to do with the other things you said need fixing. That worked. They dropped the pretense and fixed what I came in for.

oh, the poor car of the MacPhersons being long overdue for a check-up

Took my car into the shop to get oil change and ready for winter. Mechanic said come over to the car and I will check the air filters. He proceeded to extract them and yes, they definitely needed changing. (air filter and cabin filter, oh yeah and oil filter).

So, is that why they have oxymoron and examples on the wall?

had the garage tell me should change the rear brake pads a couple of times, car’s computer said differently – still had same pads on when I traded it – the traction control system was known to burn the rear pads out quickly if you driving made it work hard

I hope that she doesn’t just shoot it like Colonel Potter.

Jack up the radiator cap and drive a new car under it!

“Hey, look at that. Your MacPherson struts are just fine.”

“Once the flux capacitator goes, it’s just a matter of time.”

Wow…this one hits close to home. Last month we were driving to a wedding 2 hours away from home. When we were 1-1/2 hours out our car just…died. The cost of fixing the car was almost the price of a whole ‘nother used car, so that’s what we did.

So… what exactly was it in for? Those repairs are all very different systems (tie rods and the alignment are the only two that make sense). And just replacing the catalytic converter isn’t solving the problem IF it is indeed damaged.

Sounds like a scammy money grab… knowledge is your best defense. :-P

I think one dealer had a bad air filter that they would show to random people and say it needed changing. I doubt they bothered but charged for it. I said I wanted the old one and that was fun, I might have gotten their demo filter.

Every time I take my car in for the lifetime (free) oil change that I got for buying my car, they always tell me my air and cabin filters are really dirty and need changing. Even when I had just changed the air filter myself a month or so before. LOL! Also, many times I get the whole, “you need to have your transmission flushed” (or brakes, or cooling system, etc). It’s a dealership and I know they’re most likely just trying to up-sell like they do when you’re trying to buy a car, but if it ain’t necessary and the customer has refused before, don’t try the up-sell.

you might want to go to the shop my brother works at.

A cabin air filter installed at the car dealership is about $60, at an automotive store about $25, online about $20. I thank the mechanic for telling me it needs replacing then I do it myself. The same with the engine air filter. Instructions on where and how for your make/model are on youtube.

How true to life. Every time I take my care to a certain national chain just for a tire or something minor they always manage to find something else, usually brakes, needing work. This last time I told them not to replace any brake parts, and checked with the service center at my dealership. They told me the brakes were fine.

Years ago I had to take my car into the dealership for a recall issue that would take several hours to complete. For various reasons I was stuck waiting, and while I was there every. single. person. who was there had ‘additional problems’ that were found while fixing the initial problem. Total scam.

Free coffee while you wait!

The independent shop I use will tell me what they checked and that most of that doesn’t need to be replaced. I’ve used them for years and trust the owner completely.

Tie rod – why is it bent? Wanda would notice steeering problems. Unless bent , usually only the rod ends go bad. Catylitic converter- usually these are good for the life of the vehicle and then some. Timeing belt – no way to tell unless they pulled the front of the engine off and these too are usually good for the life of the vehicle. Time to run Wanda not walk and go get a second opinion for the car brand dealer.

That’s about the size of it. Take a vehicle in for an oil change and next thing you know, there are “issues” which supposedly require more and expensive repairs.

The last time I had an oil change, tire rotation, etc, I had gotten a ride home and while at home the dealership (which secularly enough is the least expensive place to get it done) called and a young woman asked me if I wanted to “upgrade to the newest body style.” I replied, “Do you mean buy a new vehicle?” She said, “yes with an upgraded body style.” I told her I was not interested…She was simply doing her job, but it really irked me.

I’m surprised he didn’t find a bad muffler bearing.

Wanda, don’t forget to have the Blinker Fluid changed and have them reverse the battery cables so you get heat instead of AC now that it is getting colder.

And the technician was last seen driving off in his new Bugatti

It’s sad that there ARE shops out there that do ‘padding’ just like this, at the manager’s suggestion !! … Just to get quick extra dollars from the gullible …

Get a second opinion … That’s everyone’s right to do! – Thankfully, I have a really good and honest mechanic! … :)

Yeah, we’ve all been there. And the need to sit around all afternoon while they work adds insult to the injury of the high price.

The Pretensia?

Not sure how, but I’m PRETTY sure Hammie did it.

It’s not necessarily a scam, although this one with all the various and expensive items sounds like it. Dealerships and large chain shops will inspect the vehicle no matter what it was brought in for and have a list of anything in less than pristine condition. It’s why I use independent local shops. Those dealerships have a large overhead. Those technicians aren’t the ones getting rich. I bought my first new vehicle 40 years ago from a company that at the time was still in the same garage building they had from the start in the 1930s. It was in a small town that got a lot of business from nearby larger cities. I moved away and on a visit back about 10 years ago, they had moved to new quarters, that like many dealerships now, equal the Taj Mahal. That’s where that hourly labor charge is going.

Between the furnace going out and the suggested expensive repairs for the car, I’m wondering if Baby Blues is working up to Wanda getting a job out of necessity.

What’s with the Oxymoron logo above coffee pot?

Wanda: That guy, there, saved all those “difficult” words for the last, hoping you won’t understand what he is saying, and he is scamming you!

In simple words: Alignment of tires is done when you buy new ones, or when you change from summer to winder tires, or when you feel your car is veering and you have to correct to one side or the other too often…etc.

Filters you can change yourself or get a high school kid who takes shop to do it for you.

Plus Wanda: he’s betting that you don’t know anything about cars…so it helps if you have some questions handy about the words he used just to get back at him…

took our truck in last July to get it looked at, thought it needed a new catalytic converter from the code we ran. They looked it over and then called me out into the shop to show me how much was wrong with the front end. $5000 dollars later it was fixed. Except for the catalytic converter which we had to put off. 2 months later, I totaled it on a deer. :(

Go to a real mechanic, not the 15-minute rip off artists.

Typical service rep trying to convince you to have things done that don’t need to be done.

Why is oxymoron written on the auto shop’s wall?

My mechanic quoted me $700 for a job but said check with the dealer, it might be covered under the warranty. Took it to the dealer, told them that, and they shamelessly quoted me $3200. Blew my mechanic’s mind when I brought it back to him rather than them, thankyouverymuch.

I took oneof our cars to a garage we used often to get inspection done and he came out and said that it needed about $2000 worth of work to pass and I asked him what was wrong with it that would cost so much, and he just stood there with a look at me, a woman, and stumbled and just said “have your husband call me later and I will let him know”. He ddin’t expect me to ask what was wrong. So I took it to another garage that we had also used and they siad all it need for inspection was 2 fuses that cost less than $15 to pass, we had them do the inspection and never want back to the first garage.

Your problem is that you said okay to the first thing too quickly. Do whatever research you need to be able to ask intelligent questions, and if they replace any parts, ask them for the old ones.

Haha! XD Would be less expensive to just buy a new car!

Unless you trust this business, I’d get a second opinion.