Dealer Maintenance Schedules: Smart Protection or Expensive Overkill?
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Car
Jeep Wrangler
The Jeep Wrangler is a tough, off-road vehicle that many people love for its ability to drive on rough paths. It's known for being durable and fun to drive.
Car
Nissan Rogue
The Nissan Rogue is a type of SUV that is good for families and has a lot of space inside. It's known for being efficient with gas.
Company
Freedom Automotive
Freedom Automotive is a car repair shop that helps people who might not be able to get help elsewhere.
Term
oil contamination
Oil contamination happens when things like leftover fuel, dirt, and water mix into the oil that keeps your engine running smoothly. This can cause problems and make the engine wear out faster.
Part
bearings
Bearings help parts of the engine move smoothly without grinding against each other. They reduce friction, which helps the engine run better and last longer.
Term
thermally controlled area
A thermally controlled area is a place where the temperature and humidity are kept at certain levels to protect things like cars from damage. It helps keep them in good shape.
Term
rust
Rust is what happens to metal when it gets wet and starts to break down. It can make cars look bad and even cause them to fall apart if not fixed.
Term
moisture
Moisture is just water in the air. When there's a lot of moisture, it can cause metal parts of cars to rust and break down.
Term
40 degrees Fahrenheit
40 degrees Fahrenheit is a temperature that can cause water in the air to form, which is bad for cars because it can lead to rust.
Term
emergency brake system
The emergency brake is a backup system that helps keep the car from rolling when it's parked. It's also used to stop the car in case the regular brakes don't work.
Term
contaminated engine oil
Contaminated engine oil is oil that has become dirty or mixed with bad stuff. If you don't change it, it can hurt your engine and make it stop working.
Term
short-tripped
Short-tripped means driving a car for only a little bit at a time. This can be bad for the engine because it doesn't get hot enough to work properly.
Term
acidic oil
Acidic oil is engine oil that has gone bad and can harm the engine parts. It can happen if the oil is old or contaminated.
Term
connecting rods
Connecting rods are parts in an engine that link the pistons to the crankshaft. They help turn the up-and-down movement of the pistons into the spinning motion that makes the car move.
Term
crankshaft
The crankshaft is a part of the engine that helps turn the up-and-down movement of the pistons into a spinning motion. This spinning motion is what powers the car.
Car
Nissan 2008 Nissan
The Nissan 200 SX is a small, sporty car that people liked to modify and race. It’s known for being fun to drive and has a special place in the hearts of car fans.
Part
automatic shifter knob
The automatic shifter knob is the handle you use to change gears in a car that shifts automatically. It helps you go forward, backward, or stay still.
Term
CVT transmission
A CVT transmission is a special kind of automatic transmission that can change gears smoothly without the usual steps. It's designed to help save fuel, but it can have problems if you push it too hard.
Term
dealer maintenance schedules
These are the regular check-ups and services that the car maker suggests you do to keep your car running well. It's like a health check-up for your car.
Term
repair order
It's a paper that shows what work has been done on your car, like repairs or maintenance. It helps keep track of everything that's been fixed or serviced.
Car
Nissan Leaf
The Nissan Leaf is a car that runs on electricity instead of gasoline, which makes it better for the environment. It's popular because it helps people save money on fuel and reduces pollution.
Term
F&I department
The F&I department is where you go to arrange financing for your car and buy extra services like insurance. They might try to sell you things you don't really need.
Term
fabric protection
Fabric protection is a treatment that some dealers offer to keep your car's seats clean. You can often do the same thing at home with products you can buy at a store for much less money.
Car
Toyota FJ Cruiser
The Toyota FJ Cruiser is a tough SUV that can handle rough terrain and is designed for off-road driving. It has a unique look and is loved by people who enjoy outdoor adventures.
Term
four wheel drive
Four wheel drive means that power goes to all four wheels of the vehicle, which helps it grip the road better, especially in snow or mud. It's great for driving in tough conditions.
Car
Renault Wind
The Renault Wind is a small car that can turn into a convertible, meaning you can take the roof off and enjoy the sunshine. It's a fun car for people who like to drive with the wind in their hair.
LIVE
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It's kind of like, no.
Then you got to get back in line
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Yeah, I had that happen last year.
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raise your favorite morning beverage
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We're going to need a couple of those today, absolutely.
Well, the snow continues.
We had a couple of major streamers yesterday
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just a couple more inches, just to, you know,
kind of let, you know, we're not done yet.
Yeah, we're not done yet here.
So let's see what we got going on today.
Let's have a look you see.
Where are we at?
Where you at?
Here we go.
Partly cloudy conditions expected around 10 a.m.
The lowest feels like temperature will be eight minus eight
around 7 a.m.
And let's go into some further details
so we can get some.
Here we go, precipitation totals.
It's six degrees now and mostly clear wind
is making it feel colder about minus eight degrees,
partly cloudy conditions from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
with mostly cloudy conditions expected
at 11 a.m. this morning.
Today's temperature range will be from five degrees
to 14 degrees and yeah, cold.
It's going to continue to be cold.
So today, overnight low will be five degrees
and the daytime high ready for it.
Can I get a big 14 degrees?
Wow.
And I have a zero on the pre-sip
petition and snow possibly 0.3 of an inch.
And let me tell you on the South Shore's Lake Erie,
that's a lie.
That can happen in just one swoosh.
Anyhow, what are we talking about this morning?
I knew you'd ask, I got it already.
Dealer maintenance schedules.
Helpful or overkill?
I have a lot of experience with that.
So we're going to unpack that.
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All right, let's jump into this morning.
I had another little tidbit after I got off the air yesterday
and we were talking about why short trip
trips kill engines faster than high mileage.
I just wanted to give you one little tidbit recipe
of why the short trip vehicles kill engines
because I talked about contamination in the oil
and that is unburnt fuel, carbon, and moisture.
Moisture builds up in the oil pan and that ain't good.
So that's a combination.
That's a recipe for disaster
where all the internal workings are on your engine.
Is the engine's not running hard?
Not like you guys out there running 35, 40K
over the suggested speed limit.
Not like that.
Moderation, you know what I mean?
When you're losing weight
and you're working on your physique
so you can get into your favorite Keeney or Mankini
coming this summer, don't send pictures, please.
You gotta have a game plan and everything in moderation.
So while you're doing that,
you have to have what my dietician taught me was
you gotta have one freedom day.
But again, everything in moderation.
And that's the thing is that these vehicles
that do short trips, they don't run long enough,
hard enough to burn off all those things
that I just talked about, contaminants in the oil.
Unburnt fuel, which is knock submissions.
That's the big ticket item that we need to reduce.
Don't know fuel vapors escaping to the atmosphere.
Yeah, but we have two big countries that poo poo
in the sky more than all of us around the entire planet.
Do the math on that one.
It's mind numbing.
Number two, moisture.
The oil warms up just enough
that it's warm like putting, freshly made pudding
that's been cooling for a while.
So moisture condensation builds up
on the bottom end of the motor.
So the oil drops down and lays there.
And then we have an air pocket above that
and there's now moisture building in there.
So moisture's getting into the oil
and corroding things in the workings of your engine.
And then we have carbon.
Because the vehicle's not running hard
for extended periods of time,
we're not burning off the carbon.
So what do we have?
We create an oil bath stew that is acidic
and then it begins to eat the engine from the inside.
And that's where things like bearings,
connecting rod bearings, crankshaft bearings,
main journal bearings start to etch
and wear away regardless of mileage.
That's why short trip vehicles that are just,
in around town, sit in the garage for the most time,
that doesn't save a vehicle actually rots it right out.
Unless you're parking that vehicle
in a thermatically controlled area, rust begins.
If it's not moisture free
where you're parking it in your garage, rust begins.
And here's when rust begins.
40 degrees Fahrenheit with moisture in the air.
That's the recipe for rust.
So that kills the body on these short trip vehicles.
Although they look great from the top down.
And a great example is the Nissan Rogue
that was donated to us.
Thank you to Sandra, longtime listener
of Car Connection Radio, sent it down to us back in September
to look it over against the inspection
it already had at a shop in the Hamilton area.
And yeah, that car sat for about 11 months.
And so you can go to our YouTube channel
and actually see what we documented on that.
There's quite a number of videos there
doing different checkovers, inspections,
and showing you what's going on, why it's going on.
So all our YouTube videos will teach you
what it is, where it is, how it works, how it breaks,
and what could you learn from the basic fundamentals
of vehicle ownership to avoid those things?
To avoid those things from happening.
So that vehicle, that 08 Rogue is now,
I worked hard on it and we used it as an example
to create some videos so you can learn from that.
And that's one of the videos
where we did break nationals all summer.
That one was the last one, the 08 Rogue,
and it was a brake system, emergency brake system,
disaster from sitting.
There was nothing salvageable in the emergency brake system.
It was done and that was a big job.
It was a lot of work.
Then there were a lot of scabs underneath,
rusty crusties that I had to bang all the heavy rust off
so we could give it a really good coat
of corrosion free underneath and slow the rusties right down.
If that vehicle had sat for another six months,
it would have been over at the back of the vehicle.
There would have been some heavy duty rust
that was not good, not good.
So that's why I just wanted to touch on that
just a little bit more because that's what it means.
And we have some fleet vehicles
that we put together over the years
and every single one, even though they're in storage,
they gotta be gone over before they go out on the road
to fundraising events and local cruise events
to be out there meeting and greeting the people,
seeing the kids, faces light up
and we let them get in with their parents
and have their picture taken
and tell them they can tell their friends that they own it
and we'll hand them the keys.
It's really good.
We have a lot of fun with them.
They're not toys, they're tools,
but they need a lot of work all the time.
So come May, when we gotta start bringing them out,
we have to get them ready.
That means clean them up,
make sure everything is as it should be,
go over everything on the vehicle
because when they sit, they build problems.
So that's where I wanted to wrap that up this morning
with just a little bit more is contaminated engine oil
will kill that engine in no time flat.
So it was lower the mileage
and I talked about it yesterday.
I had received a vehicle from someone, again, donated.
It was parked for years
and it was always short-tripped.
It had very little mileage on it.
I cleaned it out, cleaned it completely inside and out,
did all the mechanicals and I sold it to a chap
who's gonna be commuting from Hamilton, Toronto every day.
Six months later, the motor just,
it developed a knock and it was over.
And the reason it was over was that acidic oil
being in that car for so long ate the bearings
that I just talked about.
Connecting rods, crankshaft, main journal bearings,
it eats them, it's acid.
And the babbit on the bearings just gets licked right off.
And when that happens, tolerances are wider
and things come apart.
So that's the short story.
So I wanted to get that in there this morning.
So we're talking about dealer maintenance schedules
and helpful or overkill.
Well, it's a love-hate relationship
when it comes to maintenance schedules.
And I've been talking about that and fleet maintenance
and how that all ties in together
is all the years working on hundreds
and hundreds of vehicles in huge fleets,
working along the fleet manager himself
to get all the maintenance is done.
And they gotta track every single unit that they have
in their fleet, that's what the fleet manager does.
And those vehicles, we'd have to go pick them up,
bring them down to the shop and go over the whole thing.
And don't miss a single thing
because that makes the difference
between getting the tender next time
when the tender comes up or not.
And I'm grateful that I worked in a shop
where the owner was a military mechanic.
He was hard to work for, but when we played,
he'd always say, when we works,
we works hard, when we plays, we have fun.
And he was a very good teacher.
And so we learned discipline to make sure
that we never missed anything.
And that's how I created
the Car Connection Maintenance Schedule Kit
to help my customers on the Hamilton Mountain
to stay on track with their vehicle maintenance
and you can simply track it on your own.
All age groups, folks,
there's three lines to the instructions, fellas, three.
And then you get different methods of posting it up
and it's laminated.
You even get a dry race marker with a clippy thing.
So you don't have to go looking for something
and you grab a Sharpie and you put marks on there
and they don't come up.
So I send you a, not a Sharpie, but a dry race marker.
And so you get stickies and magnets.
You post it up, it has a checklist
and you go through that checklist
and get everything done from top to bottom.
When you get to the bottom, you erase it off
and you start to pack at the top.
It's not rocket science.
Now, when we take a look at the dealers,
I'm not picking on the dealers.
So, hey, don't send me any hate mail
or, you know, a dead rat or anything like that.
Leave the rodents alone.
They have a purpose.
Sometimes squirrels, squirrel.
The dealer maintenance schedules.
I'm gonna give you a really big ace card
right out of the gate, okay?
When I closed my shop in 2001 due to health reasons,
I'm okay now, sort of, kind of maybe.
I have to watch myself.
I push myself too hard, but you know what?
That's just the way I'm wired.
Grew up working on farms and fruit farms and stuff.
You work hard and you have fun.
So I got to know my factory rep.
I got snatched up by a European car company
to come take care of a dealership,
get it sorted out because they were gonna lose
their license because they weren't playing right.
Things weren't running right.
And I never set foot in a dealership all of my trade,
not at all, ever.
So this was going to be an amazing experience
that I could share with you.
So it was like going in as a mole.
Yeah, mole, moly, moly, moly.
Yeah, going in as a mole and I learned a lot
and I developed a very good relationship
with my manufacturer's representative.
He was German, I am English.
Yeah, I was born in England.
Oldham Lancashire to be in fact correct on that.
In fact, I just found my birth certificate.
It's like a four by eight sheet.
Stinking huge.
Just going through a totter in my office,
the last one, and I found it.
And I had to send to England for it and it's huge.
Yeah, so we got talking one day
and we developed a really good relationship.
And here's what he said to me.
I can't take him off too well without laughing.
He was from Bavaria, very nice man, very nice man.
And he trusted me because I'm a service tech
and long time business owner
and we're trying to get this place turned around.
And we did.
We did get it turned around in 18 months.
And it was fantastic.
Fantastic group of people I got to work with.
Only had to say goodbye to one person
that wasn't willing to be part of the team.
There's no I in team, but there's a me.
And that's how he looked at it.
And I said, you have to go home now.
So anyhow, in a conversation about maintenance,
my manufacturer's representative says to me,
well, you know, Nile,
it is not the maintenance guide is just a suggestion.
It's not the Bible.
It's not written in stone.
I go, oh, so what are you saying?
He goes, the maintenance items on the maintenance
are just a suggestion.
So there you have it.
Right from a manufacturer, European manufacturer rep.
And they're very, I'll tell you, they were sticklers.
Boy, let me tell you, we didn't mess with anything.
It was their way or the highway.
But I was shocked when I heard that.
So here's the thing.
I have a neighbor that has a very expensive European car
and he freaks out.
I mean, and he's done well.
He's in his life.
Money's not really a problem, but it's a problem.
He says when it comes to these maintenance schedules,
he says $800.
He goes, I'm going in for an oil change
and it's gonna cost me 800 bucks
because they're doing some kind of inspections.
Well, here's what I suggest.
Now, knowing what I know,
that the maintenance schedules from the factory
are only suggestions.
Here's what I do for all the makes and models.
I take a look at what they're doing
on the maintenance schedule that you're due for.
So whether it's eight, 16, 24, 32, 56, 64K services.
And I look to see what are some of the items they're checking
because what that tells me as a tech
is if I see the same items coming up
in each one of those maintenance schedules
that they're just checking,
those may be the items that the factory knows
they have issues with.
So they're keeping an eye on those things.
Just like a great example is the 2008 Nissan Rogue
that was donated.
Now it's, we brought, we rescued it.
It's back to life.
There's a couple of things to do yet.
A door hinge, the shifter thingy is automatic shifter knob
kind of rotates counterclockwise
and clockwise or something in there.
I know what it is.
I got to try and explain that to the dealer
so I can get the pieces parts to fix that.
I've never had to experience that before.
It has areas that are prone for rust
and I see a little surface rust there now.
So we're on that.
The big thing is the CVT transmission sucks
with a big K and a large S.
You got to know, don't be towing with it.
Don't be driving the living daylights out of it
and change the transmission oil with the factory oil.
Not something from a parts jobber
with the factory transmission oil every 30,000 miles
and shut the front door.
Get it done.
Then your CVT is going to go,
ah, I like you, kind of like this guy.
Yeah, you got to stay on top of it.
So those are the shortfalls I found.
I wrote them down, I go,
we need to pay attention to these things
if we want to now take this thing to the next level
and that is get some ROI on all the parts we threw at it
that it had to have.
We didn't get out the parts can
and we knew exactly what we were doing.
So with that, you can use the dealer maintenance schedules
to look it over and see where I see check and inspect
and things like that.
They charge you for that.
Mm-hmm.
So I go like, check glove box.
Okay, doors closed.
Oh, but if the tech grabs the handle on lowers,
let's that thing lower down and close it,
that's probably just cost you 30 bucks.
That stuff bugs me.
It's like, come on.
You know, even when we were doing fleet maintenance
for checking stuff, we check when that vehicle ends up
in your stall, your deal is you inspect it.
It's your checklist and if you miss something,
it's coming back to you.
You're the guy, not the man.
You're the guy that it's gonna come back to.
And there's gonna be a what for and how to.
Let me tell you.
Yeah.
So here's where I see that stuff
and you're paying for it, check, look, it's visual.
Right, I go down the checklist and I see everything
in each maintenance and I don't want ones are visual.
Which ones are hands on?
I don't like the idea that we're billing the customer
through the teeth for the looky see eye spy, I call it.
That's what my boss used to say.
Do an eye spy on that and be thorough.
That meant don't miss anything
because then we get in trouble.
So when I see things like check this, check that,
check this, they're billing for doing nothing but look.
Just look.
That's it.
Like a little dog, you know?
Like a Jack Russell Terrier in a bounce house
filled with balls.
He's looking all over, like 360.
His head's rotating like Linda Blair in the exorcist.
I just gave my age away maybe.
But anyways, that's the stuff that ticks me off.
The ticks in the tech box, they're billing it for that.
If they're doing something hands on, that's different.
But in my opinion, a lot of that stuff,
I would not bill my customer for it and never did.
We would, well, an oil change going on,
I would do a complete look around on the vehicle,
looky see, check in over, do a show and tell,
make sure I don't miss something
that could put them on the side of the highway
or bring their vehicle in on a flatbed.
That was embarrassing.
So that's what our goal was.
We had a comeback rate of less than 1%.
And that doesn't come by as a gift.
You gotta work on it and you gotta make sure
you cover your customer's vehicle.
So when I'm checking stuff, check wiper blades,
check lights, check tire pressures,
check, check, check, check driver's door handle,
in door handle, blah, blah, blah.
When I see all that stuff, I'm like, come on.
That's nickel and diming the customer.
So that's where I don't, that's what I don't like.
Let's get into the meat and the potatoes
of fleet vehicle maintenance.
The check things, you can do that
as you're going around the vehicle
and working on other pieces of the vehicle
and not hitting the customer for every little looky see,
oh, I touched the lid of the glove box, 0.1 per hour.
That's the stuff, no, no, no, no, times no,
divided by no, plus no, is no all day long.
So I say that to say this.
They say you have to do the factory maintenance schedules
at the dealer or you have no warranty.
I did a lot of dealer services at my shop
and filled out their book, gave them a copy of their bill
so that it was all on there,
that the vehicle was serviced as per the manufacturer's
outlined maintenance schedule
for the mileage is currently at.
So I made sure I covered my customer's butt
and that all the information was properly recorded
because I did warranty work as well at the dealer
and it's dot the I's cross the T's
or your claim gets bounced back.
You have to be thorough.
So I totally know and understand the paperwork
and documentation at dealer level.
It was four and a half years of hell working 80 plus,
80 plus hours a week, but going in as I was willing
to go in as a mole to learn the politics
and stuff goings on behind the curtain at a dealership
and I learned a lot, I learned a lot
and there's stuff that I will never speak of
because then I would probably get a dead rat
or a chocolate x-lax pan of brownies
and I don't want that.
No, no, we don't do that stuff.
So I'm not here to hurt people.
I'm here to teach you what I know for,
I just calculated it out yesterday.
Long time, 50 years, 50, I've been around
the automotive business 50 years and license since 1988,
my license and I just got the bill today, thanks.
Yeah, I got to pay for my licenses again.
So they're due and never stop learning folks.
Never stop learning, read everything
so you don't miss anything.
So that's what I want to wrap up
with the dealer maintenance schedules is,
a lot of shops that are organized can do
your dealer maintenance schedules, record it properly
and make sure that all your documentation's filled out,
the book in the glove box gets filled out and stamped.
You don't have to go to the dealer.
That's, as long as all that information
is recorded properly, that on the work order performed,
dealer, manufacturer maintenance according to blah, blah, blah.
And that's all on the RO, the repair order,
the mileage is recorded in your book, it's stamped,
it's dated and then I would always put an invoice
reference number right in the book as well.
So if there's anybody who's saying,
oh, you're warranty's void, oh, it's void.
No, it's not, sorry buddy.
Try again.
Door number two in the rice errone for the rest of your life.
Yeah, no, no, it's not.
It's like the manufacturer's saying,
well, you had your vehicle rust proofing earlier,
it's a warranty's void.
No, no, no, it's not.
That annual rust proofing will not void your factory warranty.
Yeah, so I'm your man.
When it comes to that stuff, I know every dot,
every eye, every tittle.
When it comes to working behind the curtain in a dealership.
When I had 27 adult children to take care of,
and we were good, we had a good crew and I miss them.
Because we worked our butts off to go from number 12
at the bottom.
That doesn't mean you're number one.
We were number 12 in a district of 12 dealerships
about to lose its license and in 18 months
working together as a team with the vision
being the customer to service the customer.
That's why we're all there.
We went number one in Ontario and Canada
for parts and service and we got all kinds of accolades.
The VIP box at Toronto Maple Leafs, it was crazy.
We got all kinds of gifts for doing so
and we were a great team.
We did pool parties at So-and-So's house
and So-and-So's house and went out
and watched the movies together.
We were a team and new owners came in
and that just blew it all to hell in a hand basket.
But yeah, it was awful.
It was awful.
I think the first ones to go.
Yeah, they told me I didn't know what I was doing.
Yeah, I had all these awards.
We had all these awards.
I had awards and everything right from the factory
but I didn't know what I was doing.
We turned the dealer from number 12 to number one
and I just said, okay, I'm ready to go anyway.
82 hours a week total every week.
No holidays, no sick days.
Couldn't even escape for lunch.
I made them too much money.
So anyways, I know a dealer inside and out dealerships
and they all run pretty much the same.
Yeah, pretty much the same.
They're all departments.
There's Mothership, which is the dealer.
Then there's the F&I department
where they sell you stuff you don't really need
like fabric protection.
Go buy yourself a $23 can of Scotch Guard.
My 3M, there you go.
Do it yourself, 23 bucks.
Might be 30 now, but it's not like 300 bucks.
And then paint protection.
Don't go there, the electronic rust buster.
No, got one down in the shop there.
We call it the rust buster 2000.
Yeah, so that's that department.
Sell you stuff you really don't need.
The cleanup department, that's the detailing department.
Then you have the service department.
Then you have the parts department.
Then you have the sales.
There's new car sales, used car sales.
They're all separate businesses working under Mothership.
That's how it works.
Yeah, so I think we'll clean it up there
and wrap it up there.
Coming up tomorrow morning,
I hope you'll come back and join us again.
And we wanna thank our certified financial planning
professionals for sure.
Tony Mealy and Larry Tietro helping you
get answers to your questions.
That's what they're there for.
I've worked with these guys for 20 years.
They are myself and some of my personal friends,
financial planners, and they've helped them to make money
once they got their investments out of the bank.
Yeah, they're making good money and they're happy.
They're like, motor mouth, freaking love you, buddy.
Do not hug me.
Yeah, so get your questions answered by those
who have the fruit on the tree.
Period, I can't say it any plainer.
If you got an investment portfolio with the bank,
you need to get some questions answered, my friends.
If you're into debt, up your eyeball,
and you have intense moments of fellowship with your wife,
because if Mama ain't happy, the whole house ain't happy.
She's the thermostat, man, she's the thermostat.
You gotta get that under control.
And if you think it's not, you just can't do it.
Yeah, there are ways, there are ways.
Estate planning, you got kids, you got a house,
you got a car, you got a checkbook.
I'm speaking to the young generation.
Yeah, we don't get out of this thing called life without death.
Yeah, you don't get out of it alive.
That's right, and you have to think about that
and plan for that.
We don't all plan to die,
but it's gonna happen at some point.
That's what the young generation,
moms and dads, grandparents, whoever's listening,
you gotta help them to learn this,
because I've heard that so many times.
Well, I don't plan on dying.
Well, what are you gonna do?
Get an estate plan and powers attorney
when you're already gone?
Come on, that's all gotta be taken care of.
All age groups, estate planning, powers attorney,
you do not do it yourself.
The fellows take care of that.
Setting up a mortgage, I haven't had a mortgage
with a bank for almost 20 years.
I'm done with the banks.
They don't treat you right.
Especially when you're self-employed,
you're like dirt, dog poopy.
In fact, I had a bank manager look at me and say,
Nile, I hate small business.
See ya, and I did.
I got out of there, went back to the credit union.
They treat you like people there.
And more, there's so much available to you
through Tony Malley and Blurry Teacher,
you'll love them.
Pick who you wanna work with, book that hour in a coffee,
complimentary discovery meeting, at home, by Zoom,
in person, whatever you're comfortable with,
but connect, connect with them.
They're not selling you anything
and they do not need any more clients.
They've been in the biz combined 50 years.
They know what they're doing.
They absolutely do.
They're two of the best decorated CFPs in Canada,
but you'll never hear them say that.
Connect, connect with them.
City Auto Sales and Leasing,
you're shopping for cars, we can help you.
Prevent from buying somebody else's junk
and taking it home and having to fix it.
City Auto Sales and Leasing, low mileage,
quality vehicles at fair prices.
That's how they've earned the title of Greater Toronto Areas,
premier pre-owned auto store.
Check in with their own Louise Grant,
husband and wife team, amazing people to deal with.
They are car people.
They love what they do.
They do in-house financing and leasing.
Check in with them.
They got a good inventory inside and outside,
but if they don't have what you're looking for,
let them do the legwork.
They have the resources.
Let them take care of that.
They're not gonna sell you any junk.
Thank you to Rainbow Motors and Garage up in Scarborough,
Rita and Ramiz, Shenouda are the brothers up there.
They have a small car lot as well.
Again, they're not gonna sell you any junk.
Some of their vehicles they sell,
you can get an extended warranty package with that as well.
If you need that sense of security, sales and service,
you can trust to all years make some models,
including light commercial vehicles.
That's Rainbow Motors and Garage.
Been a part of car connection for decades
and we love those guys up there.
They take care of our peeps very, very well.
Trust, that's it.
Sales and service, you can trust.
So till tomorrow, what are we talking about tomorrow?
Well, we'll prep the pump or prime the pump
or poke you in the eye one or the other and wake you up.
How to make any vehicle last 300K,
the 400K Club and the 600K Club.
I don't have a vehicle yet, the 600K.
I'm pushing for 400K on the 07 FJ Cruiser.
I was out in the snow yesterday.
What a beast, we got into some road drifts and stuff.
I went with Stevensville area and it was fun.
Yeah, there was nobody else on the road.
I was smashing drifts.
That thing is a beast in four wheel drive.
But you gotta keep it on the road.
There was a moment there, but we handled it.
We handled it very well.
So drive according to road conditions,
keep an eye on the weather pattern
because yesterday we had a streamer come out of nowhere
late afternoon that put down like two and a half inches
of snow in like half an hour.
And it was almost zero visibility.
I just backed in, I went to do a service call,
put a battery back in a single mom's van, everything cool.
Shoveled out her driveway to get the van out,
turned it around, got it out of the wind, parked it
and all was good.
I just backed into the driveway here at the studio
and I'm like, where did that come from?
And now I got all the gear down low.
Cheapers man, that part stinks.
But anyways, we got it looked after.
So be safe, keep it under 100.
Watch out for the other guy.
And remember, happy, healthy motoring,
peace, patience, kindness always.
We'll see you tomorrow morning for more
of the MotorMouth Morning Drive.
About this episode
Exploring the value of dealer maintenance schedules, Niall shares insights from his extensive experience in the automotive industry. He discusses whether these schedules are genuinely beneficial or just a way for dealerships to increase costs. With anecdotes about short trips damaging engines and the importance of proper maintenance, he emphasizes the need for vehicle owners to understand what their cars really require. Listeners will gain practical advice on how to navigate dealer recommendations and maintain their vehicles effectively.
Original notes
Are dealer maintenance schedules protecting your vehicle - or draining your wallet?
In today's episode, I break down dealer maintenance schedules from a working mechanic's point of view. We cover what the factory actually requires, what's legally needed to protect your warranty, and how independent shops can perform factory maintenance properly - without the inflated costs.
You'll learn:
1) The difference between factory -required maintenance and dealer - added services
2) How to protect your warranty without going to the dealer
3) Why proper documentation matters more than where the work is done
4) What all those " Inspect/ check/verify" line items really mean
5) How to avoid paying for things technicians are already looking at for free
Bottom Line:
If the work is done to the factory schedule, to the letter, and the paperwork is recorded correctly - you're covered. No scare tactics. No unnecessary upsells. Just real-world advice to keep your vehicle reliable and your money where it belongs
More episodes and ... project Details & links are available at Car Connection Business Network.com ( ccbusnet.com) you'll find everything you'd like to follow the build/repair work we do & connect with our program partners/sponsors , click their logo to connect Thank You! Grab some Car Connection Motormouth merch, Help someone struggling with addiction get the support they need from Total Freedom Canada & USA Addiction Campuses. Tnx for watching & listening friends, Happy Healthy Motoring, Peace Patience Kindness Always, Nile Motormouth Jenkins/NMJ
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