Do You Have a Plan? Or Are You Paying for Theirs?
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Term
brake fluid
Brake fluid is the special liquid that helps your brake pedal actually stop the car. If you lose it, your brakes may feel soft or not work properly.
Topic
Summer 2026 Brake Nationals
They’re talking about a brake-focused series they’re filming. The goal is to show brake service work on different cars.
Term
pothole
A pothole is a hole or broken spot in the road. Hitting one can damage your tires and wheels, and sometimes even parts under the car.
Term
alloy rim
An alloy rim is the metal wheel on your car, usually made from aluminum. When you hit something hard, the wheel can get bent and no longer be perfectly round.
Term
out of round
“Out of round” means the wheel isn’t perfectly round anymore. That can make the car shake and can also cause the tire to wear unevenly.
Term
bead of the tire
The tire bead is the edge of the tire that grips the wheel and helps keep air from leaking out. If the wheel is bent, the tire may not sit correctly.
Term
low profile tires
Low profile tires have less “cushion” between the wheel and the road. When you hit a pothole, there’s less give, so damage is more likely.
Term
run flats
Run-flat tires are made to keep you driving for a short distance even if they lose air. That can prevent the tire from fully coming off the wheel after a puncture.
Term
odometer
The odometer is the number that shows how many miles or kilometers the car has been driven. The point here is that just looking at that number isn’t enough—you also need to know whether the car was maintained.
Term
hour meter
An hour meter counts how many hours the machine has been running. For equipment like construction tools, service schedules are based on runtime, not how far it traveled.
Term
warranty
A warranty is like a repair guarantee for a limited time. The host’s point is that many warranties don’t cover routine wear items (like tires or brakes) and you may still pay for common stuff.
Term
normal wear and tear
“Normal wear and tear” refers to parts that naturally degrade from everyday use rather than a defect. The host argues these items are frequently excluded from warranty coverage, meaning you pay for things like brakes, tires, wiper blades, and batteries even during the warranty period.
Term
items covered
“Items covered” is the section of a warranty that lists exactly what failures and parts the warranty will pay for. The host recommends skipping the long text and going straight to this short list to understand the real scope of coverage.
Concept
major maintenance plan
It means you don’t just wait until something breaks. You plan ahead for the big services so the car is ready to use when you need it.
Term
car loan
A car loan is money you borrow to buy a car, and you pay it back over time. The extra cost over time is usually interest.
Term
principle and interest
Principal is what you borrowed. Interest is the extra amount you pay for borrowing the money.
Term
hooptie
A “hooptie” is a car that’s basically falling apart and keeps needing repairs. The host is saying if your paid-off car is still a money pit, you may need to move on.
Term
electronics
In modern cars, “electronics” refers to the computer-controlled systems that manage things like engine operation, sensors, and comfort features. The host argues that older, simpler cars tend to have fewer electronic components that can fail.
Concept
plastic mass
They’re basically saying modern engines are covered in lots of plastic. The concern is that it can hide what’s going on and that plastic may not last as long in high heat.
Term
engine bay
The engine bay is the space under the hood where the engine and related parts are located. The host is saying it gets very hot, so plastic parts there may wear out faster.
Term
under hood temperatures
This is how hot the area under the hood gets. If it runs hotter, plastic parts can get brittle or fail sooner.
Concept
when your tech is working under the hood, it's costing you more of his time
If the engine area is hard to see or hard to reach, a mechanic has to spend more time figuring things out and taking things apart. That usually costs more money.
Term
dealer add-ons
These are extra items or fees the dealer adds on top of the car’s price. Some are optional, but they can still make the total cost jump a lot.
Term
PDI
PDI means the dealer’s inspection before you take delivery of the new car. It’s usually part of the extra fees you see on the final price.
Concept
car payment treadmill
They’re basically saying some car deals are set up so you keep paying every month for a long time. The concern is that it keeps you stuck instead of helping you build financial stability.
Concept
factor that into the price of every new vehicle sold
This is a pricing-and-risk concept: manufacturers estimate the expected cost of warranty claims (based on statistics like a projected failure rate) and spread that cost across all vehicles they sell. The host argues that this is why the company “doesn’t lose money” even if a portion of cars require warranty repairs. It’s essentially risk pooling through pricing.
Concept
planned obsolescence
Planned obsolescence means a company may build things so they don’t last as long as they could. The goal is that you’ll need repairs or a replacement sooner. The hosts are arguing that car makers account for that cost when setting the price of new cars.
LIVE
Good morning Niagara, you're tuned in to Car Connection where the coffee is hot, tools
are ready, talk is always tuned up.
I'm your host Niall Motormouth Jenkins coming to you straight from the Car Connection Workshop
this morning where we mix a little humor, a little know-how and a whole lot of horsepower.
Here it's not just about fixing cars, it's about keeping you rolling, saving you money,
giving you the confidence to understand what's under that hood. From the classics to the commuters,
the weird noises to the what the heck moments, we've got you covered. So grab your coffee,
sit back, join the crew because this is Car Connection, your Monday through Saturday morning
pit stop for story smarts. A few good laughs and I'm Niall Motormouth Jenkins and we're going to
shift into drive this morning. We are a little behind the eight ball but we've got to get caught up,
had a little bit of an issue down in the workshop but we've got another control I think. Looks like
I do. Lost all my brake fluid in the FJ. Just so much going on on Video Shoot Mondays. That's what
happens around here in the Car Connection Studio. Do the morning podcast, get your uniform on and
everything head out onto the shop floor and shoot 3456 videos, whatever we can get
done and get them loaded up. So if you haven't checked out our YouTube channel, you're going to
want to do that because the series, the late, lately the series we've been doing is really kicked off
what we call Summer 2026 Brake Nationals have already begun. We've got two vehicles that are in
need of brake service work replacement. You name it. So those videos are being shot as we speak.
Some of the series will begin next week, next week. I just found out yesterday
here in Ontario anyway. It is long weekend. It's Victoria Day weekend and I'm like,
what? No way. And my videographer is going, yeah, way. I'm going, no way. Yeah, way. Check it out.
And I said, well, it's not 24 May 24 weekend. That would be May 17 weekend. I'm going, that
doesn't work like it's no, no, that can't happen. But anyways, proven wrong. True. Long weekend this
weekend. If you got your car ready packed, it's cottage opening trailer opening, first cramping,
glamping or whatever time out. And I really hope the weather is going to hold out for you. I really
am. I'm, I'm, I'm praying up a storm here for you because I have been on a fishing trip in
Bay of Fundy. I think it was no Bay of Quinty, Kingston area, Kingston, Ontario. And I ended up,
the guys I went with were so inebriated. They didn't do any fishing. They invited me to come
fishing, but it, it, no, it didn't start as fishing at all. They were bending elbows for two and a
half days or more. And I met some old fella up there. Stand, I was standing on the dock and it's
Friday was a beautiful day. We drove up, drove out there with the fellas from work. I'll never do
that again. Message to self, no, I fish alone. That's right. I think I've heard that before. So
I met this old timer on the dock the Saturday morning, bright and early, miserable, wet,
raining, foggy, cold, just miserable. He goes, Hey son, what are you doing? Well, I came
up fishing with the guys from work. He goes, They're not doing any fishing, are they? I go,
No, I came for the fishing. He goes, Well, I have a boat. I like you. So anyway, short story.
That was my first time ever going away on the May long weekend. And it sucked with a K. I couldn't
wait to get home. In fact, I was trying to get a cab from this campground called Kyuga something
campground camp Kyuga or whatever. And you didn't hear me say this part. I was so cold, wet, damp,
cold, freezing. I tried sleeping in the pickup truck because these guys made a mess out of the
tents. It was horrible. It was a horrible thing. So I'm praying up a storm right now
that you don't experience any of that because it's wrong. Alright, so good morning. Welcome to
the morning. Motor mouth morning drive here in the car connection workshop. We got a ton of stuff
on the go. Again, if you have not signed up for a YouTube channel or you are watching the videos,
but not subscribed, help us out. Help Skippy and I out. We're working hard to bring you
the bestest content we possibly can without laughing too hard. I think she's laughing more at
me now. I'm getting and she's getting comfortable and asking questions, which is good. So now we
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you'll find us there. Just type in the search bar, Car Connection Workshop. So we're on
all the biggies, Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Podbean. I'm still waiting for someone to kick an email over
saying, if I had this particular vehicle, I would name it Podbean. Yeah, so I have a vehicle in mind
and I'm waiting, doing an opinion poll to see if someone matches what I'm thinking would make
a great name for a specific make and model of vehicles. So help me out on that one. Again,
if you're enjoying the videos, please do us all a favor and I want to speak on behalf of all the
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okay? So thank you very much on behalf of all the online influencers because it is a 100% commitment
to create the content, shoot the content, edit the content and get it loaded up so that you're
not missing any episodes so that we create a thing, what we learned in 31 and a half years of
radio, continuity. We have to have continuity. That's why we're doing a morning podcast for you
every single day all the way to Saturday. So if you're joining us for the first time,
Friday is fun. Friday, it's kind of like open mic. We cover whatever bounces in my head,
whatever thoughts come in. And if you send me questions, I may answer some of those on Friday.
But your questions for Q&A Saturdays, which is a one hour program, I have time to break down
three questions completely. So not giving you any fluff whatsoever. I take three questions out of
all the questions that come in by noon on Fridays. So let's get started this morning. The title of
this morning's podcast is the plan plan. Do you have a plan? So I give you
something to think about some fodder to sift through while we get our morning swiggy done,
our daily weather. And now I know that we're heading into a long weekend weather will become
extremely important, but not as important as coffee here in the car connection workshop that
nothing trumps high octane. It just doesn't because that's what we run on not a penny less. So everything
we talk about lives at our website at carconnectionbusinessnetwork.com. It is the biggest drawer
we have in our toolbox. So all our program partners and recommended businesses as we're
redoing and revamping our car connection business network. So you have referral businesses. I mean,
if you're on the other side of the planet, it may not help you. We may have to find someone
your side where your geography is. So that's the whole idea. Now there's no boundaries.
So we can have businesses with us that meet the criteria from anywhere on the planet,
as long as there's listeners, right? It'll work out. So on the homepage, you'll see the logos
for our program partners and recommended businesses. All you do is click, it'll open,
the profile page is set up there. Webmaster done a great job. Every profile page is set up and
you navigate it exactly the same way. So there's no getting lost in those profile pages whatsoever.
Everything is there for you. On the top right hand corner, the homepage of our website, you'll
find everything that you need available to connect with us. So as I said already,
car connection now with more ways to watch, listen and engage. So come and join us Monday
through Saturday here on our iHeartRadio podcast, Motor Mouse Morning Drive. So top right hand corner,
we've got YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Skippy's already creating some new reels, bloopers and
outtakes. I caught her actually yesterday. I turned slowly and the camera's rolling and I'm like
okay. She goes, can you just turn the other way for a minute?
Yeah, it's coming folks. There's some bloopers going to be up there on Instagram and Facebook's
some new ones. There are some on Stevensville on the web.ca. That's a website that our videographer
and my folks live in, my mom passed in 22. My pops is still living in Stevensville
and she created that website to bring and draw the businesses to the community, the consumers,
and the community to the businesses locally. So it's a communal website and we are placed as
experts in the automotive field. So we put articles there. Skippy puts up bloopers and little short
videos and vignettes there so that you won't see anywhere else. So again, the podcast, what I cover
on the podcast, I don't cover on YouTube. And what I do on YouTube, I'm not necessarily covering on
the podcast. So you're getting fresh gear all the time. Yeah, so we're keeping it fresh in the
CRISPR drawer. Yeah, don't leave the drawer open. Not a good idea. Try stuff out. So we have an online
store. Just a quick reminder, when you purchase something in the online store, pick your color,
your size, whatever item it is, safely pay for it. And all proceeds go to total freedom
addiction campuses in Canada and USA to help those who have made that decision to break free from
their addiction forever. To say goodbye to their addiction forever. That's what the campuses are
designed for. It's not a program there. It's a life change. They teach them how to get through
the addiction, round it under it over it. And then they work them getting back into the
responsibility of having their own place, paying the rent, having a job and putting in the hours,
being responsible for their time and their performance. All that is done on the campuses.
So we want to help them to get there once they've made that decision. So thank you to each and every
one of you for jumping in and knowing that every item, every dollar created from every item sold
goes directly back to freedom expressions that puts together our online store for us through
total freedom addiction campuses. So it all, the wheel turns together, right? You know, you can
be an island if you want, but it's pretty boring. But you know what? When you have some peeps you
can count on and everybody's helping each other equally. The wheel turns together and it gets
so much easier. But if there's only, you know, as my professor always taught me, there's only two
people in the world, givers and takers. You can only stand in one arena at one time. So what are
you? You have to ask yourself, what are you? Are you a giver or a taker? Think about it. Gets the
mind going if you have one. Well, let's say thank you to Earl and Louise Grant this morning for
bringing and making this podcast possible. They are the Greater Toronto Areas pre-owned
Premier Auto Store. They have quite an inventory there, but if you don't see what you're looking for,
Earl and Louise have 20 to 25 years plus in the business. So they have resources to find
low mileage quality vehicles and offer them to you at fair prices. So if you're looking for
something specific and they don't have it, connect. And if it's out there, I'll tell you, Earl is a
very fussy car guy. He doesn't bring any junk into the dealership and he doesn't sell any junk there.
Those things go into the used car corral and they just get sold off as is where is. So if
you're looking for a beater or something like that, let Earl and Louise know because they do
have a used car corral stuff that they may take in on trade, but they're not going to flip it
back out onto their inventory. You may be able to pick something up, you know, that's older,
that's in decent shape, put some love and tender loving care into it and some mechanicals and get
it back out there. And if it helps you for the next couple of years, get back on your feet,
that would be okay, right? So check in with them. Talk to Earl and Louise and you don't let them
know what your needs are. So you can buy with confidence there and be treated with nothing
less than honesty and integrity. So let our Earl and Louise grant know that I sent you there. They
have in-house leasing as well as financing. So if you're just joining us, we are going to have
our swiggy this morning. So if you're scooting through the drive-through, it is Tuesday,
heading into a long weekend. You know what can happen to the mind? The mind is a terrible thing
to waste. And you know, even though I worked on the shop floor in our own shop for 11 years,
till I had some back issues that were really bad. I did a super number on myself.
Don't talk about that sometime. The guys used to always say to me, hey, motor mouth,
what would you do with a brain if you had one? I go, you know, my grade five teacher used to
always say the same thing. Are you related? Yeah, so anyways, just on a side note, make sure you
got some little gray men running around in your head so you can, you know, work things out. So here's
how we do it. Lock your cup in, check your order as you leave the drive-through. There's no reversing
in the drive-through. And on 321 we have a swiggy together. Okay, so whatever your
morning beverage is, we are totally good with it. You know, ours is high octane. That's just the way
it is. I have my herbals in the morning to get the engine firing and keep us going for 18 hours.
And that's about it. So ready? Thank you to Earl and Louise Grant at City Auto Sales and Leasing.
321 Oh, yeah. I put a little extra ginger in there today. That's got some,
that's got some kick to it.
That'll float your boat or put hair on the top of your feet, one or the other.
You got an option there. Well, we better get into the weather reports so we can jump into
today's topic. The plan is the plan. Do you have a plan? That's the question today.
So begin to get, wake up those little gray men, your brain thinker-uppers, and search and see if
you do have a plan. And if you don't have a plan, you need to get in touch with our certified
financial planning professionals, Tony Miele, Larry Tietro, over 50 years experience as fiduciaries.
They work with one of the largest companies in the world, IG Wealth Management. So if you have
questions, folks, with regards to an investment portfolio, it's sitting parked somewhere with
the handbrake on, you don't know what it's doing, nobody keeps you informed, or you're just in one
of those cookie cutter investments at the bank. Folks, I have steered my friends that direction,
and I'll tell you what, they really like me now. So you need to get that hour and a coffee discovery
meeting with either Tony or Larry. And folks, get your questions answered. You'll have a good time
with either fella. They're my brothers from other mothers, my personal financial planners for over
20 years. Let me tell you, you're not going to tell them anything they have not heard before.
And they're not going to, there's be no condemnation. But get that hour and a coffee book,
leave your wallet, leave your purse at home. They're not there to sell you anything. They're
there to listen and see how they can help you. So if you have one of those portfolios that's making
you pitons at the bank, you definitely need to sit down and get that money working hard for you,
not you hard for the money. If you, if you're up to your eyeballs in debt, you don't have a full
estate plan, but you have 18 year old children living at home. You have a bank book, a checkbook,
and some stuff, and maybe a property or two. If you need a mortgage arranging, I don't do mortgages
with banks anymore. The rates are fantastic. The ladies out in Winnipeg and the mortgage department
are absolutely outstanding. You have a question, they'll get back to you very quickly. If you
don't have any life insurance or critical illness insurance at all, you need to get that taken care
of because you know, here's the thing about insurance, even car insurance. I don't know
well where you live, but here in Ontario, Canada, we have to have insurance to be on Ontario roadways.
If you don't, it's a $10,000 fine, possible six days, six to six months to a year in jail,
depending on how many times you've driven without insurance, but insurance may seem like an expense
till all of a sudden we need it. And yesterday, driving out of town for a few minutes, going on
a service call to check out a mini, hit a pothole, the rim is destroyed friends and the tire. So take
it easy out there. That's going to be an expensive fix, even with used parts. Thank goodness the
suspension's okay, but the pothole was so big. And I'll tell you my 44 plus years as a tech,
that's the first time I've actually seen an alloy rim out of round. It wasn't round anymore.
On the inside, it looked fine on the outside, but underneath,
the rim was where the bead of the tire comes up against, had a great big bewo in it. It didn't
break the aluminum, but the rim was out around. It made it egg shaped, in other words. So take it
easy out there, especially if you got a vehicle with low profile tires. That's all it takes.
A sharp pothole, and you're either going to break some suspension, break that alloy rim,
you're going to definitely pop the tire. So what saved the person was they have run flats. So the
tire didn't just blow right off the rim when they hit the pothole, it went right to the run flat. So
toast, like unreal. So please be careful out there, those potholes. And with today's low profile
tires, I can tell you my producer when I was at ESPN for 12 and a half years with car connection,
I think three times that happened to my producer, hit a pothole, destroyed the tire, destroyed the
rim. I believe it was three times. And he was not happy. So take it easy out there. It doesn't take
long to do some damage. So check in with our certified financial planning professionals bringing
to you this morning, our daily weather report. Tony Mealy, Larry T-Troll, you'll find them on
the homepage or website, just click on their logo and open their profile page. And you can connect
directly with them there. Well, here's today's weather report. We might as well do the ugly and
then move into the not so bad right away. Rain, yes. Precipitation will be rain today in our area
on the south shores of Lake Erie into the parts of the Niagara region, 0.2 of an inch. Prepare for
that. The forecast 35 degrees right now, mostly sunny and mostly sunny. What? Are you serious? There's
no sun out. Oh, yes, there is. Sorry. Yes, there is sun. I sit corrected. 35 right now and mostly
sunny. Wind is making it feel colder about 34 degrees, partly cloudy conditions from 2 pm to
4 pm today with mostly cloudy conditions expected at 4 pm. Today's temperature range. Here it is.
34 to 58 degrees, but it's going to feel more like 33 to 57. So yesterday we hit a
balmy high of 54 degrees, but it was sunny here. It was pretty nice, actually, not too shabby.
We shot a couple of videos outside how to test a he-go. So you're going to want to find out how
you do that. And we jury rigged some windshield washers, squirters, things. Let's put in some new
ones and we had to adapt them to the vehicle because apparently the windshield washer,
squirter thingies, nobody seems to know what washer, squirty thingies that vehicle is supposed
to take. So after ordering them twice and getting the same ones and then seeking advice,
the customer still found the same ones. So we had the vehicle yesterday. You'll have to watch that
video. I was able to adapt them to the vehicle and make it like. That's what you got to do.
There's no such word in our shop as can't. And sometimes the fellas would say things like this.
Muller mouth. Yeah. I'm working over here. I worked on the floor just as hard as they did,
if not harder, because if you never believed in life after death, you just have to be at the
shop at five o'clock. Yeah. You say, uh, I am unable to get this passenger off because they knew
they weren't allowed to say can't. So you see how tricky they were? Very tricky.
All right. Let's jump into the topic this morning. You got your thinking caps on.
You got your pack of 16 crayola crayons. Those are the best ones. They don't taste so bad.
And you need your folded leaf bag called the car connection laptop. Yeah. And then you just,
you got to take the plastic thing off that holds it, you know, in its flat position so you can
unfold it and keep writing. Just unfold it, fold it, unfold it. Got it. Okay. Good. Well,
it's the plan is plan. Right. You got the plan, right? How to keep your vehicle
long term. Yeah. I just said to someone yesterday, and I've mentioned it many times,
if you took the odometer out of every vehicle that we drive on the road, it wouldn't matter
because I don't care about the mileage. I don't. It's the maintenance that matters. That's it.
This whole thing about mileage means absolutely diddly squat. Now, if you're running construction
equipment and stuff like that, it's an hour meter. You're watching the hours to the next service. See?
That's how it works. All this marketing and blah, blah, blah for all these years,
mileage, mileage, mileage. Well, I'll tell you what, if a salesman tried to sell me personally a car
that only comes with 60,000 kilometers of warranty, get lost. Yeah. If you say it fast enough, it's
all one word. Get lost. Exactly. That's for that kind of money. That's all you're going to give me.
Three years, 60,000 K or miles, depending on where you live. It's the same in in Canada.
Three years, 60,000 kilometers in the US. It's three years, 60,000 miles. But if that's all you can
give me for that amount of money that I'm working my butt off paying a car payment plus interest,
plus I got to still maintain it because the normal wear and tear items are not covered by warranty.
Hello. They might cover brakes for the first 8,000 miles or 8,000 kilometers. Maybe
if there's actually a defect there, but if you drive like you stole it and you're burning your
brake burner, you're not getting them changed under warranty. If you burn the tires often
in 15,000 miles or 35,000 kilometers, they're not going to give you new tires.
Even if a light bulb burns out, you're paying for it. Wiper blades, battery, all those things
are what they call normal wear and tear. So whether you got warranty or not, unless they're
giving you a bumper to bumper warranty, this is what I tell you about your warranty.
Don't waste your time with a bowl of popcorn and getting bored out of your mind reading the warranty.
Slip to the section that says items covered because that's the short list. That's their plan.
Their plan is to have the short list of things that they're going to take care of under warranty.
The long list is yours. So that's the best way to interpret any manufacturer's
warranties. Or even if you're buying, purchasing an extended aftermarket warranty,
look at the covered items. And if there are things in there on the covered items that aren't
included, but have made it to the uncovered items, if it's an aftermarket warranty, you can usually
step up to the next game plan and get some of those items off the not covered list onto the
covered list. So that's their plan for you. And I will tell you flat out any time of the night,
you could wake me up at 315 in the morning, which I'm probably awake already, and ask me,
what do you think of their plan? It sucks. Leave me alone. I'm going back to sleep for another
seven minutes on snooze. Yeah, it sucks. And it has sucked for a long time.
So now it's even gotten worse because of the quality. And you know, I remember walking into
a general store, a very old general store that was here in Fort Erie at one time.
And it was a sign on the wall.
Price reflected no quality is reflected in the price of items sold here.
And I've always remembered that sign. I thought, wow, that really, if you really think about it,
it makes sense. If you're selling quality items at a fair price, then profitability is not a dirty
word. But if you're jamming it to the consumer, jacking the price up, and the quality's dropped off,
that ain't right. That's not right, folks. That's why I do what I do. I've been on radio for 31 and
a half years. Now we scooped over to digital. We're fully digital now. And it's much nicer.
It really is. It was a little nervous at first, but it's a lot nicer because it's a lot freer.
I can talk to you about certain things that I was not allowed to talk to you about on radio.
But here I can. So I'm here to teach you as much as I possibly can because I'm not in it and have
never been in it for the manufacturer or even at the dealership level. Because here's the problem.
And it's been a problem for a long time. So when I closed the shop in 2001,
I went undercover as a mole into a dealership. I posted my resume. I got picked up. I wanted to
know how a dealership worked. Let me tell you, four and a half years, they ground me out, man.
But when I landed there, I had, I spent a week with a clipboard going through the whole building
and analyzing it because this dealership had to be fixed. It was going to, it was about to lose
its licensing. And so it was serious because this was like more, I guess warning number three or four
to the owner. It was get your poo together or else our vehicles are leaving and the signage.
I couldn't believe what I saw going on in a dealership and they still had the lights on and
the doors open. That's how bad it was. I'm like, Oh my gosh, do they all run like this?
This is pathetic. The customer was treated like dog poo on your shoe and they expect the customer
to come back. Nicoling, diming them. Wow. Incredible. You got to spend a lot of money to bring more
volume of customers in because they don't come back. So here's the problem. The manufacturers
don't even like their own dealerships and the dealerships don't even like the manufacturers.
So where's the customer in all this mess? Where's the plan to take care of the customer? There's no
plan. There's no plan. But then when their customer satisfaction index goes down the toilet for the
third or fourth Poseidon adventure, then they start, they got to get things right with the customer
and they don't even know how to do it. They don't know how to do good old fashioned customer service.
Your word is your worth and your worth is your word. So what we're going to tear apart this morning
as much as I can in the time I have is making sure that you have a plan to keep that vehicle long
term. You know, unfortunately, many of you listening may be in the last five model years
of vehicles that are absolutely horrendously not good. They're not good. The quality
is not reflected in the price. The price is an e-gads man that much for that. Are you kidding me?
Does that come with an espresso maker and an automatic donut dispensing machine? No, I'm out.
That's why we're looking at and the buzzword is keeping an older vehicle, finding an older vehicle
and as long as the structural integrity is solid, you're there. You've got a platform to work with.
So the plan is and that is right. That's what you need because that vehicle
has to make you money, not lose you money. Like yesterday I mentioned, if we all drove bulldozers
and we only got paid if the bulldozer was working, that you got to the job site, unloaded your bulldozer
and it's working, carving out the earth's crust, then you get paid. But if your bulldozer is
in critical condition and you don't even know if it's going to start or perform
or make it through the day, then nobody's going to hire you to use your bulldozer so you can make
some money. You follow me? You would definitely have to have a major maintenance plan to make sure
that your bulldozer comes off your trailer and it is ready to do business with the earth's crust
all day long and then do it again tomorrow and the next day day. You would look at
that bulldozer and say, if I got to stay up all night to service it, it's got to be ready to work
tomorrow morning or I don't get paid, I don't eat. It's that simple. So when you change your mindset
and look at that vehicle in the driveway that's paid for, you know what I hear?
Cha-ching, it's making me money and it doesn't matter if you have to throw some parts at it
to keep that maintenance up, it's paid for. It's paid for. That's the news, the good news of the day,
the best vehicle in the driveway today and you would hear this from Tony Miele and Larry Tietro,
my personal financial planners, best car in the driveway, the one that's paid for
because you're going home to work, work to collect a paycheck
and you're not spending it in principle and interest on a car loan. That sucks. Big time.
Get the thing paid off and get out of the game. That's what you need to do. That's the plan.
Get it paid off, fix it up and if it's just a continuous pile of hooptie, then you send it down
the road, go find yourself a 10-year-old vehicle that's made right with less electronics and stupid
stuff and plastic. Oh my gosh. Pretty soon, you know what? There won't be a motor in there.
It'll be just some kind of plastic mass. Here's the problem with plastic. It doesn't last
and they're stuffing it in the engine bay where the under hood temperatures in the engine bay
are higher than we have ever seen in the last 20 years of production. They're cramming the engine
bay where the powerhouse is crammed with plastic and you can't even see if there's a motor in there.
So here's what I tell folks. If you open the hood of a car and you can't see and identify anything,
then that means when your tech is working under the hood, it's costing you more of his time
to get down to the business because all that plastic stuff has to come off,
then it's all got to go back on. What is plastic? It's gasoline. That's what it is. It's petroleum.
So here's the problem. We got all this plastic in the engine bay. You have a fluid leak and it
starts on fire. That car is done in less than like 10 minutes because once the plastic starts,
it's gasoline. It's petroleum. It burns really good. Next time you see a car fire,
watch how black it is, the smoke. It's toxic. The firefighters have to suit up with respirators now
because the products the car is made out of is all plastic.
Yeah, plastic is cheap, not expensive. It's cheap. So look at the price tag. I think back in the
we're in the winter and I went into a Chrysler dealer and they had a Jeep JK or something
in the showroom. It was almost $60,000 before any tax, PDI, shipping, freight,
and a wax and buff and anything else they can throw in there to charge it for. The cup holder maybe.
So I did the math on that. You may want to listen, hunt that podcast down. All our podcasts now
instantly load up to our YouTube channel. So all the episodes are there. We're pretty close to being
into season three. So you have season one, season two are all there. So almost 200 episodes of car
connection. I did an episode and I broke down that price. What was all factored in and at the end of
the day, you're needing to get a car loan for $67,000. Yeah, silence, crickets, right?
You bet your bippy. How many hours do you have to trade time for money to pay for that thing
and for how long? And then at the end of the day, the trade-in value, peanuts. So you paid it off
and then they're telling you it's not, well, it's not worth anything. It's got mileage on it. Really.
I would not be a good guy to sell a new car to, trust me, because I just nail them with the questions
and watch the reaction, watch them scramble. Yeah, are you kidding me? Do you know what I'm
buying for that kind of money if I have it? Something that accrues profit, land,
physical gold, silver, things that make you money, not eat your money. But here's the thing,
if you're playing their plan and dancing to their tune, you're sucked in to their plan they have for
you. That is to always be making a car payment. How about this? For the next 35 to 40 years,
you're going to work to pay off a car payment for 35 to 40 years. The rest of your working days. Does
that make sense? Not to me. You might say, well, you know, motor mouth, you're a mechanic. That's
a lame excuse. Honestly, watch the videos. You'll see I have to buy parts and I have to use my time
away from everything else to get the job done. So my labor isn't free. I'm losing it elsewhere
to fix my car. Understand? It's not being done for free.
A, I got to source the parts. B, they got to come in. C, I got to take off the old stuff and hopefully
there's nothing else that's needed. And then I got to put it all back together. So again,
I'm taking my time away from other stuff that makes money to lose money to fix my car. So
it works out the same whether you're paying somebody or whether I'm paying myself to do it.
So let's jump into the next part. This is a five part series right here to get you. It's a plan,
a five part plan. So part number two, do you have a plan for that? I hope you do and I hope
I can teach you something because it works for me. You know, the FJ, we've said it again and again
just short of 400,000 kilometers, the 99 Honda Civic DX 319,000 kilometers. Do I care what the
mileage is? Again, no plus no times no equals no. No, no, no and no and no. Doesn't matter when you're
taking care of it. Doesn't matter how many hours are on your bulldozer. If you're taking care of it,
you can go and do a 12 hour shift with your bulldozer and get paid. But your bulldozer has
to be ready to work the next day to make you money so you can eat. It's all in the plan.
When you have the right plan and the right mindset and you implement the plan because
in everything we do in life, there has to be a plan. Honey, do you think I look fat in this bathing
suit? Is that the time? Don't answer that one. But you say, you know, you look in the mirror and you
go, I'd really like to lose 10, 15 pounds. Okay. As my professor would say, motormouth, okay, what's your
plan? Plan? I need a plan. What kind of plan do I need? Well, you need to starting a date
and a finishing date and what you're going to do in the middle to hit the desired outcome.
I want to lose 10 or 15 pounds. How are you going to do it? Oh, I never thought of that. Well, I'll
do it. There's no battle. There's no victory. There's wishes. There's wants. There's needs and
there's gots. And those are the categories. If you don't want to be working to pay, make payment
and interest payment on an automobile for 35, 40 years, then you've got to have a plan and implement
the plan. So that's what I'm working up to here is I want to help you people to get out of the car
game, stop listening to the white noise and wait for the signal. I'm your signal. I'm teaching you
how to get where I am. You want to put 400,000, 600,000 K on an automobile? Watch me dance. I
absolutely can do it. How? I got a plan. And then what do I do? Keep rotating the plan. You don't
need to change anything. You need to get started. So if you're wanting to lose 10 to 15 pounds before
the beach heat comes on and get into your swimsuit and not look like a beached whale and feel uncomfortable
in your skin, then you got to have a plan and you got to have a strategy. So a starting date
and a finishing date and you're going to check your progress along the way so that you can hit
the desired date and target. The 10 to 15 pounds is gone and you gave it to your next door neighbor
that you don't like. So then she's asking, do you think I look fat in this dress?
I think my muffins are done. I'll have to get back to you on that.
So having a strategy in thinking about doing something but not doing it comes back to the
podcast I did about the three frogs. Three frogs on a log. One's thinking to jump off. How many
logs? Frogs are on the log. Three frogs on the log. One deciding to jump off. How many frogs are
on the log? It's a professor question. Most people will say well two. No. Listen. Three frogs on a
log. One's deciding to jump off. How many frogs on the log? Three. Well one jumped off. No. He was
deciding to jump off but he didn't jump off. Three frogs on a log. One deciding to jump off. How many
frogs on the log? Three. He didn't jump off. He's still deciding. This is the trick that the car
manufacturers are playing on you. That exact thing. We'll cover the vehicle for 60,000 K.
If it has problematic issues we'll pay for it but their hope is in their own words that if
they're major components that the next time they have to change that major component on their dime
then it lasts till you get to 60,001 kilometer or one mile over because then you get the kiss.
We'd really like to help you but we can't because you cross the finish line. So the quiet
words were spoken just two weeks ago from an engineer that left one of the major car manufacturers
and he said that's what they plan in their plan.
Is that your vehicle doesn't have a lot of problems but they have to pay for it
and all those expensive they haven't figured out. They have a plan. What is that
plan? That well from the statistics that are out there 10% of all the vehicles they create
are going to be problematic. So they've got it figured out down to the nut how much
one of those 10% would require warranty to be paid out to fix it. Then what do they do with all that?
They factor that into the price of every new vehicle sold. So do they lose money?
There's my question for you this morning another one. Did they lose money? No they don't.
They don't care if they have 10% of the vehicles produced or lousy and they need warranty work
because they've factored the loss into the price of every new vehicle. You're paying for it.
There you go. Ding ding ding. There's their plan. Let's continue. I only got a couple minutes left
here. I'm over by five. All right. So the plan is plan, right?
That's I'm talking about your plan not their plan. I know their plan and I just told you their plan.
Planned obsolescence. If you ask AI you'll get a very interesting answer and it's not true.
I'm just saying no offense against AI fanatics but I asked that question and you'd be surprised
the answer I got. I go who are you working for? Just saying. Yep put that out there. Give that
a whiz bag. Planned obsolescence came out of the mouths of the engineers that just spent some time
on YouTubes and if you want to listen to one go to a channel it's called The Car Guy.
Check it out. Let him know. Motormouth sent you over there that the one engineer was on
one of the episodes last week. Last week. You'll want to listen and do what I did. I listened
and then I re-listened and I listened. It was very disturbing I have to say and it's shameful
what the car manufacturers are doing. Not all of them but they know who they are
and I'm not here to beat them upwards and downwards. They know who they are. They know
what they're doing and they've been doing it since here I'll tell you. I've been watching them since
1992 and we're now at the ultimate period of their game plan and it's not really working out for them.
The only thing they understand really is loss of market share then you get their attention.
What does that mean? You get rid of their junk and go try something else.
That's what we'll get their attention. See we don't understand that we have the power as the
consumer. Most have become consumers. You've been buying their crap for so long you don't even smell
it anymore but when you become a prosumer a professional consumer then you understand the game
and see the game and don't get in their game. You can stay out of their game. I'm all for you folks
so the plan is plan. We'll see we can get through this this time.
Right so you have one right? Do you have a plan? If so how's it going so far?
How's that working out for you? Are you on the never never plan? You never own it? You always
pay for it? What is it? An automobile? You're gonna work the rest of your life your fingers
to the bone dead dog tired to buy somebody's created piece of garbage.
That was a little harsh. Okay I'll back off. So how's it going? Number four well I'm here to tell you
MotorMouth has a plan. Want to know what it is? I gave you some of it but not all of it but I
could go I could actually go out on the shop floor right now and make six figures plus. Do you
know that? Every year I get called. Hey would you want to come back into service for us? No.
Why? They ground me out folks. 80 hours a week and I'm buying my own tools out of my own money
and I'm fixing my body out of my own money so I can keep going and they make the coin I get the
pickings but right now anybody who's in the trade you ought not to be turning a stinking wrench for
anybody if you're not making six figures and then some. Take home money. Not 100,000
gross. 100,000 net because it's time for the tax to get paid and Ford has discovered that
tax aren't going to work for $24 an hour. They say they're making $60,000 plus that's a big fat lie.
No they're not. They're doing all that heavy lifting for $24 an hour. You can work at McDonald's
for that and get uniforms and company spirit for Pete's sake. Don't get me started and it'll take
a dozen volume to bring me down probably. So our plan I've just revamped the whole plan for you
to make it user friendly because I've been using it myself so if I'm if I let me know if I'm speaking
to the wind we built a fully laminated reusable fleet maintenance system that makes it simple
for you to have the plan to keep that vehicle going for as many miles as you want to put on it
as long as you keep the structural integrity solid you're winning you are winning the game
big time. So you can check that out on the homepage on our website it's under I believe
it's under contact but you'll find it there's a whole page there explaining how it works it's so
simple you'll laugh so whether you're old you're young you're tall you're wide whatever color
whatever creed you're from if you can make a grocery list you can win the car game with our car
connection fleet maintenance system it makes it simple super simple and when you fill up your
sheet you dry erase it off and you start again you don't have to reinvent the wheel it's all done
for you just follow the grocery list of the maintenance items and put a check mark in the box
it's that simple do this done check when you get to the bottom go into the next
month and you you track your own maintenance as simple as a check mark
so listen watch then do that's what it takes to move forward and yes you can do it I guarantee you
you can do it so I leave that with you today and we thank the Grimoire family
Dave and Kathy and their brother Dan great people at Niagara Block 5000 Montrose Road
Niagara Falls for making this morning's podcast available to you they've been building Canada
and dedicated since 1931 they have all the building supplies you need blocks metal rebar
hardscape landscaping materials so that you can create that plan implement the plan get a contractor
on it and you can get get a referral contractor from Kathy Grimoire in the in the main office
to estimate the project get it started get it done and enjoy it and sit and relax because why
you're not making car payments anymore and if that vehicle whatever it is has been treating you
like dog poo on your shoe it's time to say goodbye I'm going to try something else step away from it
it doesn't owe you anything the company is not going to back you up 100 100% they're just not
going to do it it's all planned obsolescence period and they know it and they absolutely
you know so make it a great day today it's Tuesday we have two new videos going up today two for
Tuesday on our YouTube channel if you haven't subscribed that's where you're going to learn
five things out of every single video what it is where it is how it works how it breaks and how
you could under get some better understanding and basic fundamentals so that you can win at the car
game and also put money back in your pocket so till tomorrow happy healthy motoring come back
and join us for another more motor mouth morning drive 8 a.m. drive here in the car connection
workshop and peace patience and kindness always and be safe out there keep an eye on the road
don't drive like a maniac right and we'll see you tomorrow morning bye for now
About this episode
The Car Connection Workshop frames the episode around “the plan” versus paying for someone else’s. Hosts connect the theme to real ownership decisions: warranty coverage cutoffs, dealership add-ons, and why paying off a vehicle and planning maintenance can keep costs predictable. Along the way, they share shop stories (like jury-rigging windshield washer parts), explain why run-flat tires help after potholes, and emphasize reading warranty “items covered” instead of relying on marketing.
Original notes
The Plan is the Plan....right? But whose plan are you following when it comes to vehicle ownership? In today's Motormouth Morning Drive we break down how car manufacturers build long-term payment cycles-and how most drivers unknowingly play along.
I talk about why owning and maintaining an older vehicle the right way can put money back in your pocket, reduce financial stress, and help you avoid endless car payments for 35-40 years. We also touch on how the redesigned Car Connection fleet maintenance system gives drivers a real maintenance plan instead of guessing and reacting.
If you want to own your vehicle instead of it owning you, this one matters Friends❤️
#CarOwnership. #VehicleMaintenance #MotormouthMorningDrive
Merch Available in our online store at (ccbusnet.com) grab some Motormouth gear join our crew and show it of too👍 all proceeds to Total Freedom Addiction Campuses Canada ans USA helping those ready to say good bye to their addiction for good get there🚗 Thank Your Friends So Very Much❤️ Skippy & Motormouth.
More episodes and ...Project Details & Links are available at our Car Connection Business Network (ccbusnet.com) you'll find everything on our home page if you'd liker to follow the build & Repair work we do& connect with our program partners, click their logo to meet them, Thank you for giving therm your support friends❤️ Nile Motormouth Jenkins
Skippy here.....these little things really help our channel grow appreciate you support💕
like, share, follow, Subscribe, comment below, ring the bell so you don't miss the next rescue project, maintenance tips, and real -world car ownership advice.❤️
Happy Healthy Motoring, We'll see you in the next one friends✌️Skippy & Motormouth
Peace Patience Kindness Always, NMJ
Car Connection Workshop
Nile Jenkins
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