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Part
transmission
The transmission is what helps the engine’s power get to the wheels. It controls the car’s gears so it can accelerate and cruise smoothly. Fixing it is usually a bigger repair than things like oil changes.
Term
top end
“Top end” means the upper parts of the engine, like the cylinder head and valve-related components. Doing the “whole top end” usually means the engine needed more than routine work. It’s often done to fix issues like leaks or worn valve parts.
Term
paint correction
Paint correction is polishing a car’s paint to remove small scratches and swirl marks. It helps the paint look smoother and shinier.
Term
cash for clunkers
“Cash for clunkers” was a program that paid people to turn in older cars and buy newer ones. When lots of used cars disappeared quickly, it could also make replacement parts harder to find later.
Term
3D earning
This sounds like they meant “3D printing.” It’s a way to make a part by printing it from a computer model, which can help when you can’t find a replacement part anywhere.
Term
body dollies
A body dolly is a tool used to support a car’s sheet metal while you work a dent out. It helps you shape the panel more accurately instead of just hammering it in the air.
Term
tack
Here “tack” means making small, quick spots to hold something in place. It’s like a temporary fix so the panel stays aligned while you do the real work.
Term
mud it up
“Mud” in this context means body filler (often fiberglass or polyester-based) spread over a repaired area to smooth out low spots and restore the panel’s shape. After it cures, it’s sanded and finished so the surface looks uniform.
Term
primer
Primer is the first layer you put on before the final paint. It helps the paint stick better and makes the surface smoother so the final coat looks right.
Term
cleared
“Clear” is the transparent top layer put over the colored paint. It protects the paint and makes the surface look shiny and even.
Term
patch panel
A patch panel is a piece of metal used to replace a damaged part of the car’s body. It’s like cutting out the bad section and welding in a new piece.
Term
fiberglass reinforcement
Fiberglass reinforcement is a strong material used to help a repaired area hold up. It helps prevent the repair from cracking later.
Term
skim coated
Skim coating means adding a thin layer of filler to smooth out small dents or uneven spots. It helps the surface become flat before painting.
Term
tape lines
Tape lines are visible edges where masking tape was used to separate paint areas during spraying. If the prep and blending aren’t perfect, those edges can show through as faint lines in the finished paint.
Term
massed off
“Masked off” means covering parts around the repair so paint doesn’t get on the wrong areas. If it’s not done carefully, you can end up with messy edges or visible lines.
Term
sanded it out
Sanding means using sandpaper to rough up or smooth the surface. It helps remove imperfections and gives the next coatings a better surface to stick to.
Term
rust inhibitor
A rust inhibitor is a chemical you put on metal to stop rust from spreading. The idea is to treat the rusty spots first, let the chemical do its job, and then cover it so the rust doesn’t come back as fast.
Term
primed it
Priming means putting down a special base layer before the final paint. It helps the paint stick better and adds extra protection so rust is less likely to return.
Term
dash
The dash is the dashboard area. Car audio work often involves taking parts of it apart to reach the stereo and wiring behind it.
Term
plug and play
“Plug and play” means you can install something without a lot of extra work. In this case, the car parts were supposed to connect easily and work without major rewiring or custom fitting.
Term
speakers
Speakers are what actually make the sound in the car. If some speakers are damaged, a new stereo can make the problem obvious because you can hear what’s missing or not working.
Term
stereo
The stereo is the main audio system in the car that controls music and sends sound to the speakers. A new stereo can require matching the wiring and speaker setup so everything works correctly.
Term
backup camera
A backup camera is a camera that shows the area behind the car when you put it in reverse. It can require wiring and setup so the image shows on the screen.
Term
GPS modules
A GPS module is the part in a car that receives satellite signals to figure out where the car is. In newer cars, it can also be connected to the car’s online features and updates.
Concept
physical updates
“Physical updates” means updates that aren’t just sent wirelessly to the car—they require someone to access the car’s hardware or systems. That can make it harder for independent shops to do the work.
Term
third party programs
“Third party programs” are software tools made by companies other than the vehicle manufacturer. Here, they’re described as enabling downloads or access to functions/features that may otherwise be restricted by the dealership or manufacturer.
Term
subscription service
In modern cars, “subscription service” can refer to paid access to features, diagnostic data, or software functions that the manufacturer controls. The host frames this as a problem because it can limit what an owner can do even after paying for the vehicle.
Term
warranty
A warranty is the coverage that says the company will pay for certain repairs for a set time. The host is talking about how warranty rules can affect what you’re allowed to do to your own car.
Term
lock me out
“Lock me out” means the car’s software can stop you (or your mechanic) from doing certain repairs or using certain functions. The host’s point is that you shouldn’t be blocked from working on your own car after you’ve paid for it.
Brand
Catillac
This sounds like the host meant Cadillac, a car brand. They’re using it as an example in a discussion about laws and rules that could affect whether owners can repair their own cars.
Term
diagnostic
A “diagnostic” is how a shop figures out what’s causing a problem in your car. It usually involves connecting a tool to the car to read error information, and this segment is saying you might have to pay for that access.
Term
specialty tools
“Specialty tools” are special equipment that you might need for certain repairs—often tools that aren’t just generic wrenches. The point here is that the manufacturer may control who can get the tools and software needed to do the job.
Concept
blockade from information
This refers to efforts to restrict access to repair information—such as service procedures, wiring diagrams, software updates, and diagnostic data—so owners and independent shops can’t easily work on the vehicle. In the context of right-to-repair, the concern is that manufacturers can still limit what independents can do even after laws are passed.
Concept
right to repair
“Right to repair” means you should be able to get your car fixed by the shop you choose. It also means independent mechanics should have the info and parts they need, not just the dealership.
Concept
independent shops
“Independent shops” are regular mechanic businesses that aren’t dealerships. People often choose them because they can be more flexible or cheaper than going to the brand’s dealer.
Term
labor guide
A “labor guide” is like a time estimate book for car repairs. It helps shops figure out how many hours a job should take so they can charge fairly.
Term
labor rate
“Labor rate” is the hourly cost for the mechanic’s time. Even if parts are the same, a higher labor rate can make the total repair bill much bigger.
Term
misfire
A misfire means the engine didn’t burn fuel correctly in one of its cylinders. When that happens, the car’s computer may turn on warning lights to tell you something is wrong.
Term
check engine light
The check engine light is a warning on your dashboard that the car’s computer found a problem. It can come on for many reasons, including misfires, and sometimes other warning lights show up too.
Term
traction control light
The traction control light comes on when the car senses a loss of grip and traction control is trying to help. If the engine is acting up, it can sometimes cause that system to trigger too.
Term
goggles
Here, “goggles” refers to an augmented-reality style device used for vehicle repair guidance. Instead of reading a manual, the system overlays step-by-step instructions on what you’re looking at, which can reduce mistakes for DIY jobs.
Term
upper intake, lower intake
The intake system routes air into the engine, and the “upper” and “lower” intake sections are common ways of dividing the intake manifold assembly. Taking them apart is a real repair task because it can involve removing components that control airflow and may require careful reassembly and sealing.
LIVE
Speaker 1: Welcome to Let's Talk Cars Radio. You're automotive specialist. Let's
Talk Cars Radio is sponsored in part by NAPA, Carcare Centers, BDG Auto Group, by Liberty Transmissions in Virginia Beach, and by Bob Barnum and the Perfect House Team. Here's the host,
So Let's Talk Cars Radio. Dave Polage.
Speaker 2: Happy Saturday, America. You're listening Let's Talk Cars Radio on
WKQA Freedom Radio. I'm your host, Big Davy p hangout, camera,
Chaos and eight VB. It is a great day for
a radio show. Hopefully it is a great day for
a car show. Where you are at and yeah, man,
I want to jump right into it. It has been
a crazy week, but it's been a fun crazy week for me. So you guys know, if you've been listening
to the show for a long period of time, I end the show the same way every single week. I
tell you to spend some time with your kids, hide their cell phones, play board games with them, build a car or whatever. Well, this last couple weeks, I've had
the opportunity to work on a car with a Nathaniel and I've been working on a car. Now it's not
his car, it's not my car. As you guys know,
Hunter has started to drive what last year, and if you guys had follow along, you remember I actually posted pictures of it too. Had bought him a camera that
we were in the process, old camera because I liked the old the older cameras two thousand series and stuff.
I just think they're cool looking by style. I think
there's a lot of things you can do with them.
So I came across a gently used, in very good shape, one owner Camray V six XL that was fully loaded, nice car, leather interior, and I pursue had some problems.
The young lady that was starting to get up there in age did not want to repair it, so I bought it and I fixed it. We've done a lot
of work to it. I've done the transmission to it.
I did the whole top end in the side of the motor to it. I went through everything with it
to get it all squared away and make it right.
And it was really cool project. I enjoyed working on
it and doing a lot of things with it. I
had a lot of people pitching with it. We did
paint correction on it. Like I said, anything in your ears.
So the problem with it is. And I've told you guys,
auto parts are are getting harder and harder to find for older cars, and not so much for your muscle car classics, because there's a whole division that takes care of that. But if you're trying to restore something that's
maybe a little bit outside the box, and not to say a camera is outside the box, but it is, there is a whole following for it. I belong now
to a couple of different form pages where I follow them and people are doing I've always liked them. I
liked that by Style when it came out. I'd always
told myself I wanted to soup one up, do a turbo on it, do some other crazy stuff to it.
My phone is going crazy over here, but I had visions of doing that, So I think maybe I took that vision to push a little bit when it was time to get Hunter a car. First first car, and
like I said, that one came available. It was really clean,
it was a nice car. I'll like cool. So we've
done everything to the car and the car looks great.
I've even gone down to it. We put custom wheels
on them. I had I didn't like really the wheel
color when I bought these wheels, so I had the wheels powder coated to give it just a different look.
So I've put a lot of time and energy into the car, and it is a nice looking car. Here's
where the problem has happened. You guys know that, and
we've all talked about it here at the table. We've
complained about cash for clunkers and how cash for clunkers basically wiped out the used car, autopart market, all that kind of stuff. There's just stuff's just not available like
it used to be. So I think that's the reason
I have searched and searched and searched for a couple key element parts for this car that I just can't find.
Nobody has them new, nobody has them refurbished, and nobody's making them or anything like that. I have been on
Like I said, I belong to three different camera forms and we just can't find these little touch parts. I
have gone as far as going and try to have them custom made, and that hasn't worked out, and nobody really wanted to do them. And stuff. I see a
lot of people are three D earning some stuff nowadays, which is kind of cool. Uh So I kind of
thought going down that route, but then the price gets kind of crazy into some of the things I need to have that done. So I had to make the
decision after spending all this time, and I did enjoy doing all the all the work on this, So I very much have enjoyed it. Do we part ways with
it and let somebody who maybe has a little bit of the time and the skill set for them to maybe make their own custom parts for some of the things that be done. Maybe they have. I don't own
a three D printing machine yet. It's maybe Cameron Nathaniel
want to stone one. Maybe at some point in time
we will own one, but I don't own one yet.
And so there's some just things that need to be done.
And then of course it's the learning curve and I can't keep on holding the car from it going into service because we can't get these last little things for it.
Does a car run and drive? Sure? Could you run
and drive it the way it is? Is it a
finished product?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: Would that bother me that I'm handing over a unfinished project to my son, Yeah, one hundred percent it would.
So an opportunity came available for us to grab something else, and he doesn't know yet, but we have had the opportunity to get into something else and do something. So
we started the process all over again, and it was one that needed repairs. But now Nathaniel and I have
spent weeks and weeks and weeks working on this undercover without anybody knowing that we've been doing it and stuff, except if you guys follow along, you'll see that. In
one of the forum pages that a lot of you guys follow me on, I did post a picture with a question because I told you, guys, I'm not a body guy. I cannot stand bodywork. It's just not my thing.
So I was looking for somebody in my local area that could take care of a couple of little imperfections on it and to be done. I didn't find anybody.
I think I'm kind of glad that I didn't find anybody that gave me the answers I want, because the Nathaniel and I meeting in the minds socide that we're just go ahead and do it ourselves. And I had
done bodywork, guys, and it's well, it's got to be close to twenty years probably since I've actually done a major body You just talked about where you don't like. Yeah,
I don't like your body. I know. It's not that
I can't. It's just it's not it's not my skill set.
Can I And I've told you guys before, Can I accomplish it? Sure? Can I paint? I paint it? Do
I know how to do some tap on metal and bend metal and you know and stuff like that. Sure,
I've done that before. Do I own a bunch of
the stuff to do it? I do, believe or not.
I don't know why, because I think one point in time, I was buying cars that had little issues with them, a little dents here and there, and so I was just kind of fixing them quickly myself, and that gave me the opportunity to kind of test my skills, and I learned, I think quickly that I didn't enjoy doing it.
But I do own one of the I don't know.
It's called a stinger, but I don't know what the actual name. Anybody's in the body work with bible tell
me what the actual name it is. But it welds
the rods on. I own one of those. I have
body dollies and stuff like that. I even actually have
a little bit of a dead poor It's on a chain and you can hook it up and you can tack well to the body panel and you can pull on it if you put it to a stable object.
I used to put it to the side bottom of my lift and use it and pull and pull some debts out. I've done that a couple of times. Like
I said, I have the general idea. My issue with
it is, I think there's people out there that a lot quicker at it than I am, and probably know it better than I do. So I tend to let
people do things that are better at things than I am, that are quicker. I'm finding out that it's time goes on.
I think as I get a little older, I don't think there's a lot of those people running around anymore.
Like you know that I knew those people and now they're not around there anymore.
Speaker 4: To be fair, though, did anybody really know it to perfection or were they just learning on the job, Because I feel like that's what I've learned is a lot people are just kind of you know, they have a good idea what's going on, but everything is a learn on the job type of scenario.
Speaker 2: Okay, So I used to have on the fly body guy for years. He's now closed, he's retired. He's closed
up his business like he did a lot and his prices were great. So I doing some of the stuff
I was doing for that reason. Like I said, I
owned a bunch of stuff. Like just talking to him today,
it was like I could, I could tap out like a little dense like I said, because somebody probably do it better than I do, one hundred percent, no doubt in my mind there's probably people oble to do it quicker.
I just know what I've seen done, and I tried to duplicate it, and then maybe I got to put more mud in it than you do as a body guy.
But it I achieved what I'm trying. And everybody's like, oh,
that probably is going to crack over time. Maybe, so
before write that second for what I was trying to do, it fixed the problem. I was able to mud it up.
I was able to send it smooth. I'm able to
go ahead and shoot with primer, shoot it with paint and one I hadn't cleared it and it it looked presentable enough. So I know enough to be able to
do that. I just like I said, don't enjoy it,
so move forward. This project needed a little attention and
a couple of panels that we saw. If you guys,
like I said, if you guys look, I post a picture, there's a whole you'll see there's a rest hole that was down in one of the rear quarters that just need to be addressed. So I went ahead and finalanter
couldn't really find anybody that wanted to do it for you know, I really don't want to take the car anywhere I want. I just wanted somebody come out to
me and do it. Then of course like, oh, that
needs to go into a body shop. Oh that whole
panel needs to be cut off the car, And I'm like, no, I'm not doing all that. And maybe so. I'm not
a body guy, but I've fixed before.
Speaker 4: Depending on the type of finish you were looking for, the right way one percent, take it to a body guy, get it, you know, have them tack well some you know, a new metal on it. But you're also going to
pay for that result too.
Speaker 2: I agree. What we did was what I've done all
the rest of the time. I went ahead and got
the whole filled in. I put a patch panel on it,
I let it dry. I used some fiberglass reinforcement on it.
I use or actually this metal the metal craft reinforcement on it. It dry, I sanded it. I put that
on a couple different times. Then I went hand and
skim coated it. UH sanded it again. When made sure
everything was nice and smooth. I liked it. It blended perfectly.
You couldn't tell was there.
Speaker 5: Painting.
Speaker 2: Made a couple of mistakes, I'll say a couple of mistakes, maybe because I didn't take the time to make sure it was massed off perfectly so I got I can see lightly my tape lines in it where I taped it off for that panel. But to the average guy
that's not looking for it would never even know it's there.
I know it's there. If I look for it. You
can see it, but you don't notice it. Cameron didn't
even notice until I pointed it out to him, but I knew it was there. So is it one hundred percent? Now?
Is it ninety sure? I'd say it's probably ninety percent.
It's good. Like I said, if I look for it,
I can find it. Fixed. A couple of parts on
the bumper that we did. We touched in two that
we saw the needless of address. I was going to
originally leave him alone, but because the push had happened of like I said, couldn't really find anybody that would quick on the fly can knock it out for me, which is then just maybe I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna go buy the stuff and just do it myself. So then that turned into me taking care
of the back bumper ourselves went ahead and sanded it out, took care of it, and I'm glad. I think I'm
a little bit glad that some of the guys in the form. I won't say they gave me hard time.
They just are like, oh this, you know, they gave me the answers, so how they would do it? Look,
and just to be clear, I did go ahead and do the rusta inhibitor on it, shot it with the chemical, waited for it to turn black and the rust off before we went ahead and did it. I did all
this those preventive stuff. Is there better ways to do it?
Once again? I know you guys are going to hit
me up in the comments and stuff, because you guys love to tear me up when I say things. Is
there better way? Sure, but this is all my problem. Sure,
I did everything I knew. I went hand spray in
and let it sit. I wait for the rest to
you know, inhibitor stuff to work and that you know, that's that stuff's great stuff nowadays, you know what I mean?
Like literally, it just takes the rust and takes it.
And I went ahead and said it. I primed it,
hit it again. I did all the stuff that I
would do. If it lasts three years, it's a repair. Great.
If it lasts ten years, great, don't you know. I
really don't care. Like I said, you can't tell it
was there. It looks great, it works for me. But
would I have done it if somebody didn't. I felt
like I was kind of being needed a little bit, which then made me want to do it just to show that it could be done right right, And I was like, oh, wait a minute, this can be done.
I don't need to cut the whole car off, guys, And you know, everybody's like, oh, you got to move the whole recorder panel and do that. No, no, no,
you don't. I mean you could, and maybe that's the
greatest way to do it, but that's not what I was trying to achieve. But it was fun because, like
I said, it gave me the opportunity to aid to play around with bodywork again, which like I said, I don't enjoy, but also gave me the time to hang out with Nathaniel and work on this car. And we
did a bunch of different stuff to it. Like I said,
we did the bodywork on it, the interior. The car
has very little miles, but the interior was less than perfectly clean. And you guys know, if you listen to
the show, I'm a clean freak. So I broke out
my very expensive commercial auto steamer and my extraction tools.
I told you, guys, if you name it, we probably own it. And I got all that stuff out. I
did do some research because I was using just General chemical for cleaning. It was not you, okay, other than
you detailers, which probably know this, I didn't know. I
have used just General bottle cleaner for carpet clean forever, like aterial cleaning and carpet clean I just put in a cleaning chemical with a little oxy, you know, whatever it is, mix it up, and I've cleaned like that for years. It was not taking some of these stains
out like I thought it should. Well, I like it
works sometimes, so I AI, I'm like, what am I doing wrong? Do you know? It gave me a whole list.
It told me what I was doing wrong, and then the right way to do it and how to fix it, and then told me why what I was doing wasn't working.
I did not know that to a certain degree. I
know certain stains need to be treated certain ways, like certain stain removers have an acidic stain remover in it.
Then some of them do have like a peroxide based cleaner in it, and the reason why it does that.
And I didn't know this. Maybe I should, guys, but
I didn't know, like acidic will take out like like your greases and all those kind of stains.
Speaker 4: Your I'm trying to break down the molecule structure, right.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you have to address the stain with the right molecules to break down the stain. Vinegar base does a
completely different.
Speaker 4: Thing, almost like when you do your laundry and you do colors versus non colors.
Speaker 2: Neutrals, right, I know not to put bleach on the interior right.
Speaker 4: With the stains and depending on like you said, depend on the composite of what it is.
Speaker 6: Right when you mentioned it. I started thinking about it
because I remember seeing a video about ink. But yes,
so protein stings, like anything like with blood or grass, needs an enzemic cleaner oo stands yea, it needs like a degreasirt or a dish soap. And then coffee stains
or wine stains need like an acid solution. It depends
on what it was actually spilt on the carpet if you clean think.
Speaker 2: So I think what happened on this. I think at
one point in time it had a huge coffee spill, and I mean a dramatic coffee spill in the car that they tried to clean up. But I think it
soaked down underneath the carpet because when I put my extract on it, all I did was just pull out like a deep coffee brown all where the staining was at.
And I think that's what it was from. At least
it was coffee, right, I hope it was coffee. It was,
But like I said, it took forever. I mean I
cleaned the cherry what five times, five different times to really get it to where I was happy with it. So,
like I said, give me the opportunity to kind of do that stuff. I didn't know that you had to use.
I mean, I certain things, guys are round. I'm not
complete moral when it comes to it, but.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 2: You overlooks.
Speaker 4: Some of you overlooks.
Speaker 2: Yea, I never knew like to use a peroxide based or vinegar based or anything that stuff for different types of things. Now I know ink and stuff like that.
Speaker 4: So to be fair, you know, it's not like they tell you in the s grocery store that you know you get one bottle stays out yep.
Speaker 2: So no, guys, let me go ahead take QUI commercial break.
When we come back, I got a little bit more for you. So hold tight. I'll be right back.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Dave Polach on Let's Talk Cars Radio.
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Let's Talk Cars Radio. You're automotive specialist.
Now back to your host, Dave Polach.
Speaker 2: Hey, guys, welcome back. So if you're watching the during
the first segment, you guys see we're kind of talking about working on car stuff. But no, I I enjoyed
uh spend the time uh with Nathaniel and working on and figuring all the things out we found. We found
a little things like we upgrade it the into a like a Tesla size screen for the car that didn't have figure that out. It was pretty I mean, for
the most part, we did a bunch of research out at first. I think that probably helped us a lot,
which I tell you if you're gonna if you're gonna do upgrading to that kind of stuff, do your research.
Because I spent like three or four nights at one time researched it, and I came back, I sat and thought about it for and I came back like a week later, looked at it and did a little bit more research. I even asked Ai too.
Speaker 4: Nothing is worse than starting a project and having to stop multiple times because you don't know how to get something apar it comes, you know, goes together most frustrated.
Do your research sees you a lot of time, a lot of hassle.
Speaker 2: It did, But even to us.
Speaker 4: We ran into problems where, you know, there were some things that we just didn't know because it you know, different models do different problems.
Speaker 2: Now, for the most part, I did all the research.
I knew how that I knew how the dash needed to come apart to make that new model fit in it because I did the research and I watched the videos on it, which is great, and it did exactly came out exactly the way that it said it was going to. But it was great to do all the
research ahead of time and know that I for sure this was going to work. I knew this was going
to fit the way that it does in the pictures.
It was supposed to be plug and play for the most part. It was I'd say eighty percent plug and
play for the most part, which was great, and everything worked the way it was. Now we ran into some
things that we didn't foresee, and I probably should have, but I just didn't think about it because the car so knew somebody obviously already had blown some speakers in it.
We didn't realize that once we until we got the because you couldn't hear it with the old stereo. I
think the reason why we heard it with the new because the new Stari had so much more power to push out that you know, it's more clear that you could hear it. So then it turned into okay, finance
out of speakers for it to put that in. It
was all little stuff, but as you know, yeah, yeah it does see right, you know it does. But then
it was I want to make sure this car didn't have a backup camera, and I want to make sure it had a backup camera, so we installed a backup camera to it. So all the little things that you
we wanted to do to it. And like I said,
we did the research on it and watched a lot of that stuff, which is a bunch of different questions for I think we only ran into really truly only like one or two issues that we really had to go back and kind of look. One thing I hate
about in you guys that do I used to do stereos.
I told you when I was younger, I worked for a stereo shop and installed at night. I put a
lot of stereos in and things were a little bit more clear back then. One thing I noticed in a
lot of cars, and I haven't done a lot of auto audio in many, many years, is the fact that we can't seem to carry the same color wire all the way through the car anymore like it used to be the case. You know, most of the time the
wires are pretty straightforward, but now like behind the dash the stereo wires leave in one color, and by somewhere mid body in the car, the wires change color. And
it's very strange to me that we do that.
Speaker 4: I don't know why, but very easy to mess up. Right, So,
and the colors don't really correlate to what they should be.
Speaker 2: Nathaniel and I we looked up the color on the car, a little bit of.
Speaker 4: An electrical background, not enough to like do it professionally, but enough to do it as we please.
Speaker 2: Right right, right, right right. I'm like, like, I'm not
getting paid to do it, and if I was getting paid for it, I'd I'd do a lot more research.
So I was a little bit more handy in it and have the ends. And of course once you do it,
you memory start memorizing all this stuff anyway, just like if you're working on cars, right, there's certain things on cars I can tell you exactly what bolts never changes, never changes, and stuff. So, but we figured it out
so like it's like we rant things like that. But
like I said, it was kind of cool to kind of, you know, just sit and play with it. And we
kind of had the opportunity to play with it at our leisure. Anyway, we're in no hurry, so we kind
of did a couple you know, a couple hours here and then we wouldn't touch it. And it was a
couple of hours here the next day and they won't touch and then it sat for a couple of days because we just didn't have the time to mess with it.
So it's kind of it was cool to be able to do that. But yeah, it's now done and ready
for delivery and that that would be happening. So keep
keep your eyes out there for a new driver. Yeah, definitely.
But no, it's kind of interesting though, So it's it segues us into the next topic. So if you guys
been paying attention and Nathaniel and I were talking, there's a new rule and that just came out. It's all
on the thing about the ad in the automotive world.
And we faced this before we battled it. The automakers
do not want us to work on our cars and their excuses the cars are too technical for us, and we must be too stupid to be able to figure it out. I mean, that's why we asked. That's not
really what they said, but that's how I read it.
It's like that is the broken down that's the broken down version. Okay, So I didn't misread it, right, that's kind.
Speaker 4: Of I mess how that's how I took it. You know,
the CEO came out. I guess he was having an
interview with some reporter and they got into the conversation about, you know, fixing the right to fix your own vehicle, and I guess, you know, the four CEO came out and was basically, you know, if you want to fix your eighty nine Ford Wagon, by all means you're happy to.
But anything newer they see as a safety risk. I
think it's a load of yes, right for the fact that you know, like you said, things haven't really changed too much, and the things that have changed are and the stuff that we really don't know are is because of the manufacturers and the dealerships keeping all that behind doors, right, And as people started doing more research and discovering, then it gets leaked on the forms and us as third party people find out the information. Like I was reading
an article about you know, people are pulling out of the like very new vehicles, you know, twenty six is twenty seven. They're pulling out the GPS modules out of
the vehicles that allow them to do physical updates and limit the vehicle.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 4: Well, in some of the newer vehicles, they're positioned very easily for the consumer to get to. So now in
the newer vehicles, the dealerships are going to be burying them harder inside the vehicle. Therefore you can't remove them
so easily.
Speaker 2: I find it hard to believe that there won't be just a plug and play workaround for that. Were used
to be plug in the computer access it and somebody's gonna write code to turn that on.
Speaker 4: Like there is to a certain degree. Right, So you
have these third party programs that allow you to download them.
I had it when I m I BMW. But the
fact is that by the time we get them, it's either too late and the car, you know, we're way past the new years of that car, people messing with them.
You know, we kind of miss out on that as well as like I said, you know, the the misdirect from the manufacturers and dealerships of keeping all the information.
Speaker 2: I will say, like so that the new hot rod guys, you know, the guys have newer cars. A lot of
the conversations that we have at the car shows and stuff is like, man, I'm waiting for this to be unlocked.
I'm waiting for this to be unlocked because they're they're locked out. They can't rut anything with the car because
they're locked out, and they're waiting for somebody to come with the work around for it. And it's frustrating to them.
They're like, I bought the car, I own it. It's mine.
I should be able to do whatever I want to my car. And I feel like my hands are tied
because I know the manufacturer has made it hard for me.
Speaker 4: Right, well, look at look at John John Deere, John Deere, all the farmers are having the same problems. Is not
just in the automotive industry.
Speaker 2: It is so one of the things, all right.
Speaker 7: I'm very much a big advocate in believer to what's Mine's mine, what's mine's mind?
Speaker 2: Right one under said, and transparency is very very important to me when it comes to purchases. Okay, I want
as much information as much not on the products that I own. Why Because I'm a tinker. Now here's the thing.
If I tinker with it and I mess it up, I'm the first to own it. And I'm not going
to tell you I haven't. I have taken some things
apart thinking I can fix them. The boys have watched
this happen, especially with them growing up, and I've gotten apart and I'm like, man, I think I can fix this.
And I get apart and I dive in and I go, well, I don't know where to go from here. It looks
like we're buying a new because I'm like, just to take that one a part, right, And I'm like, that is that should be my god given right.
Speaker 6: You're right, though, you buy a new one to take that apart and figure out how the other one was supposed to go back to part and then put them both back together.
Speaker 2: They see me do that too, and I have. But
like I said, that should be my right to be able to do that right. And I feel like with cars,
I own it. That's my biggest complaint that I've had
with you, with everybody about the whole repairing cars or now having these programs where I got to pay a fee to have access to things for subscription service on cars, that it falls all that falls in line for me, guys, because it's mine, you made me buy it, if I own it, I should be able to do whatever I want with it. Now you tell me what I can
do with something that I've already paid. Now, if you
want to pay my car payment for me and let me drive your product, so be it. I guess I'm
just free advertisement for you at that point in time, and you pay the car payment. But if I bought
it and I own it, pay the property tax, own right, pay the property telling stuff it's mine, I should be able to do.
Speaker 4: What I want to embrace under warranty.
Speaker 2: But if I equally, if I mess it up because I decided to tinker with it, and I mess it up, okay, and I gotta pay now you to fix it, so be it. But you sure enough should not have the
ability to lock me out of the fact working on my own stuff.
Speaker 4: Or overcharge me because you're the only one that can work on it.
Speaker 2: One percent. Full transparency, like I said, is very very
important to me when it comes to that stuff. And
what I mean by that is it I should be able to easily go in and figure it out and fix it. Now, if it's complex, complex and it's over
my head, so be it. But there's a workaround for
that too, guys, and it's out. So I find it funny.
And that's where I think. You know, they are literally
trying to go to the president in Congress and all that kind of stuff and have all these laws written so we can't touch our cars. I remember, I think
the last one I heard that was really big on that was Catillac and stuff like that. They they tried it,
it didn't work for them, so there was a law pass.
Speaker 4: So the problem with the law that's passed right now is that it's not it's too broad, right, They have a lot of leeways. So the big conversation going around
too is that so if they do so, I guess Ford said something as well to the lines of there's gonna be ways to for you guys to fix your vehicles, but under their domain per se, right, so the way to charge you for it, right, That's kind of what I am. That's what I got from that. And you
know you'll have to pay for the diagnostic you know, program or whatever you want to change the specialty tools that come with you know, certain things that you're working on.
You know, of course you're going to be paying the four bill, right.
Speaker 2: Well, okay, so, like I said, there is some workarounds that I know that are out that technology is. It's
a two way street, guys. You guys know we talked
about I like technology and certain things I don't like about technology. It really just I guess I'm a little
stubborn because it's really what suits me, and it shouldn't be that way. Like it should be. I either like
it or I don't, not just because it suits me.
That's the reason why I like it, And now tomorrow I don't like it. Eve it might be the same
thing because it didn't suit me. I'll admit, I'll admit
when I'm wrong. But I think it's really interesting that
here we are again where they're going to try to find a way to have a blockade from information and stuff to keep you from touching. Like I said, it's
my god given right to mess it up if I mess it up. And here's the thing, maybe what the
problem is is they're afraid that people will mess it up or make it better and then want them to fix it for free. I get that because being an
automotive guy and being in the automotive world, I mean auto garage is, you know, my whole life, and knowing how that works, I've seen a a lot of people go back behind me and try to mess with something that we already fixed for them. But then they want
to do half the work themselves or whatever. And they
not only do they not do the work they were going to do themselves right, but they mess up what we just did and they bring it back in and try to tell you that you did something wrong. By
the way, it's pretty evident when that happens, it sticks out like a sort thumb. As much as you try
to cover your tracks, most of the time, we know when you do that. So don't like. I'm good for
you trying to figure it out and work on your car yourself. In fact, I encourage that a lot of times.
But if you tinker and you mess it up, you need to own it. But like I said, there's a workaround.
I gotta take quick commercial break. When I come back,
I'll tell you what that work around is. So hold tight,
I'll be right back.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Dave Plach on Let's Talk Cars Radio.
Dave will be right back.
Speaker 2: Hey Dave, what, Hey, Dave what? I've got a secret?
What are you? Twelve?
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Cars Radio. So for the last two years, if you
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Speaker 1: Nobody remembers the name JF. Witlow and Sons Incorporated until
you need them. But when you have a toilet problem,
drains back up, pipes freeze, your heat or air conditioning stops working, then you remember JF. Whitlow and Sons. Don't
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Call them at three nine nine one seven one four.
That's three nine nine one seven one four. JF. Witlow
and Sons Incorporated. Welcome back to Let's Talk Cars Radio,
your automotive specialist. Now back to your host, Dave Polach.
Speaker 2: Hey, guys, welcome back. So before I went to Commercial break.
We were talking about, you know, the right to repair of your car and the fact that once again the manufacturer's trying to find a way to block us from it.
Is every manufacturer doing it, I don't know. I think
they'll all fall in line and it'll probably end up being all them, because obviously it's in their best interest when one leads everybody else follow us financially, is in their best interest to try to keep everything in the house.
I get it.
Speaker 4: So that was another thing in the article they were talking about, you know, they're thinking the reasoning behind this is coming up once again is for the fact that since twenty eighteen, dealerships are down twelve percent in services.
Speaker 2: It's a fall off.
Speaker 4: Well to me, me, I think they're charging a lot for services, you know, when you can fusically just do some of the services at independent shops or at yourself.
Speaker 2: Right, it's so the fall off. To be honest with you,
I think, you know, I got a lot of friends that own auto garages and we talk, you know, quite a bit and stuff, and I think that it's it's the repair cost, the labor hours versus the general auto growth. Now,
keep in mind, if you guys have not been paying attention.
There is a general standard, uh labor guide, okay, and then we have there's the labor rate that most of the country's charging, and you can go kind of take a look in that scale. As far as I'm concerned,
not as a consumer, as somebody that's been in the business, I think it's grossly underpaid in a lot of ways. Okay,
And I'm gonna tell you why. It costs a lot
of money for auto garages to have technicians nowadays. It's
not cheap. And the schooling that goes with it. If
they're doing that, people go, oh, they don't send them to school. A lot of garages do. If they're actually
doing what they're supposed to and they're sending their technicians to school to learn new technology stuff like that, there's a huge cost of that. And there's a lot of costs
of education that is put out on the behalf for you in advance. And you're like, not for me, it
is for you, so you can take your car and somebody can know how to fix it. Yes, it is
for you. I mean, you have a service needs to
be done and that guy needs to know how to do it. Correctly. Therefore, when you bring the car to
the shop, he knows what he's doing. That's what you want.
You want somebody knows it's doing. So there's a cost
that needs to be associated with that. You know, a
lot of repair garages out there across the nation right this second, or like one hundred and fifty six dollars an hour, which you're like, oh, it's a lot, it's not because the national average right this second is stating that it should be about two twenty five to two twenty an hour right this second is what it's supposed to be. And a lot of dealerships are falling in
suit and moving their amounts to that much. And I
went to a conference a little less than a year ago where that was the general conversation that everybody needs to get on board and have about the same labor rate. Well,
what's going to happen is you're always going to have independent garages that are going to charge less than the dealership.
That's how they attract their client. But if you start
blocking it then and they can't get the information, then that's how you turn the car back around to come back to the dealership, which I think is unfair. Practice
as far as I'm concerned, and.
Speaker 4: The dealership already has a leg up for the fact that, you know, all the parts are coming from the dealership or from the manufacturer, so they already get a price cut on half the parts that the independent sellative access to.
Speaker 2: You don't have access to me, or are they're solely developing, or when they.
Speaker 4: Do price things out, they are able to price cut certain things than independence because they get bulk supplies like oil.
You know, I know they can cut down basically get the oil way for free because it's bulk.
Speaker 2: I'll be the first one to tell you. Okay, so
you know, I told you guys, I worked at a dealership.
And I'm not saying every dealership works like this, but I'm pretty sure they probably do. It is great when
you were trying to work on a car at the dealership and you think you know what's wrong with it, but you're not exactly sure. And back in the day,
it was great because guess what, I had every part for the most part to fix that car in the storeroom.
Now it's not like that anymore because they're carrying less parts, but they do still have the most common failures there on the shelf, So what is that technician have access to that I don't. He gets to walk right into
a storeroom, grab a part, put it on the car, and try to see if it fixes the problem. If
that doesn't work, he can grab the next part and try the next part. Independent auto garages don't have that
ability because they have to order the part in, get it from somebody, get it brought to them, try to try it out. Did that work? And everybody's like, well,
you should know what you're going after it. Sometimes there's
nine parts to control one problem. As you guys know
who work on cars. So those are lists of the
show that don't That's how it works.
Speaker 4: All there's four different variations of the same part.
Speaker 2: I'll give you a perfect I'll give you a perfect example.
Some cars you have a misfire, but it's hooked to other things in the car and turns on other lights in the car. Okay, so you're like, oh, man, well,
I you know, I got to check engine light, and I also have a vast light, and you know, and I have a traction control light on and all kinds of stuff that it's probably just due to the misfire because that runs through that system. And turns those lights onto.
But the average guy that works on cars doesn't know that.
Speaker 1: OK.
Speaker 2: So then for him to go work on his own car, he doesn't know exactly what direction go into because he doesn't work. But if the knowledge was out there and available,
he easily could go research it and find out. That's
where the loophole comes in. So I'm trying to figure
out how the manufacturers, and I think I know what they're going to do. They're going to charge a subscription
services too. There is a device I told you guys
about this that has been in the development and is gaining a lot of traction and it has gotten better over the last two years. You put on a set
of goggles and a lot of autogarages can use this now too. It's being pushed now and for general automotives.
You put a set of goggles on and when you look at the car and you can select my touching buttons the operation that you're going to do the repair.
Let's say you want to take the top end of the motor apart. You go and you put in I
want to go after say upper intake, lower intake, and you do all that and you hit it and you select it, it literally brings up a skeleton delay over what you're looking at, and it says, take out this bolt, this bolt, this bolt. So then you take those bolts
out and you tap it. It takes you to the
next thing to do the next bolts you need to take out. It just runs you through it. If you
don't know how to do that job well. To a
certain degree, that's proprietary information, right, You could say that is because now it's showing you how to fix that car.
You could be complete dittity, but have the interest in working on your car. You put the goggles on and
it will walk you through the repair. That is a
great device. Do I think that's going to change the
automotive world completely?
Speaker 1: Sure?
Speaker 2: To a certain degree. Are most people going to buy
that device and have it in their garage at their home garage. They're not. Our auto garage is going to
buy that device because every single tech who already has technical knowledge, has gone to school or has ass who's never taken this particular car apart, now has everything he needs to know to do that repair correctly without having to I'm not gonna say fumble his way through it, but without applying it to well, I did it on a Chevy and I'm work today. IM working on a
BMW close not the same car, but the general idea of how the motor works is so you just apply it, but there's a lot of other bolts you have to take off on well this car versus that car. It
shores that up. So do I think I'm trying to
forget how the automotive side of things, like manufacturers are going to protect some of that because that's now you have that device. It really takes away and I think
that I said, I think that's the fall off on the auto garage side of dealerships because the information is out there and people are teaching themselves, and technicians are getting this knowledge and they're working on it. So it's
cheaper to be at a general automotive or garage than it is to be at the dealership. A lot of
times have the work done, usually buy many mini's of dollars, So I can understand why they're trying to protect themselves, but at the same point in time, they're hurting their customer in the long run. I think if you start
telling customers you can't work on your own car as a manufacturer, I'm not going to buy that car. I'm
just going to find one who doesn't mind if I work my car, and who wants to share the information with me too, because, like I said, as those goggles get more important in auto repair, and maybe you guys know, like flat screen TVs they came out, not everybody had one for longest time, guys. I didn't have one for
a long time because I didn't want to pay ten grand.
Remember you guys probably don't remember, but some of you guys do when Bo's had the store inside the mall and you sat down, it was the first flat screen TV's just seen and they were like ten rand. Back then,
I didn't know too many people that had a ten thousand dollars flat screen TV. Well, how much can you
get a flat screen TV for nowadays? Guys? I think
I just saw a sale on a seventy five inch for one hundred and fifty nine dollars. May not be
the best brand, but it's it's still a flat screen.
Tells you how things have changed. So I see this
technology moving forward and I see it bridging that gap between I don't know how to work on my car and I could work on my car if I had, you know, VR goggles and I put them on and it had that program and I could do that and it shows it. Like I said, when I saw the
technology two years ago, it was very rudimentary, but it still was very cool. And what I just saw is
light years from what I saw two years ago to what it is now as far as technology, and it's really cool.
Speaker 4: So well, I think, you know, when something like that eventually comes, I think that, you know, it's going to lost my train of thought.
Speaker 2: It's already out there, it's already being sold, so they are selling the product already. I was just listened to
a sales pitch on one in stuff that was up, and then I went online. I was looking everything, you know,
looking at all the different videos and stuff they are. They
already have a model and they are selling it out to aull the garages right this second. It's not cheap.
I mean, it's not real expensive e there for what it is, but you'll probably for all your technicians is probably to have one in the garage and have the VR set up and stuff to walk you through. Probably
twenty grand, which is not horrible, right, But also, by the way, there's a there is a service and you're signed up for it. If you get stuck and you
don't know and the VR can't walk you through it.
The one that I saw, you tap a button and you hold and a live technician comes on that knows that car. They can tell you this what you meant
and this is what you do.
Speaker 4: See. I think that's great. But I can see in
the near future where that just becomes extinct. It's a
great I think it's great. It's a great product. I
think as I think as a business, it's it doesn't really last long.
Speaker 2: Oh, I think it does.
Speaker 4: But the fact that you know, AI is only getting smarter and you can have a lot of these, you know, simpler AI models. I mean once once information Once the
AI model can seep through all the information and you know, grab it all and then you won't need a business to put you know, PaperWorks together and plans together for you.
You have an AI doing for you, right.
Speaker 2: I believe that you're probably right, the AI be able to do it right this second. The way the business
model set up, there is a live operator, maybe later on you won't need one because AIB be able to answer all those questions for you anyway, and tell you what you missed by looking at Because you're looking at it through a screen, it sees what you're working on, and that person's able to tell you what you might miss if you didn't see the right order. It's a
great operation. Like I said, I want to see what
what the manufacturers work around is for that because that technology is a big push right the second. And of
course you're gonna have to have all the informations. So
does somebody tear one down and they just load it and then then it's there, let's they figure it out and then what they're trying to do is not worth it anyway. I don't know, you guys know what you think?
Somebody a message, good idea, bad idea. I gotta take
another quick corcial break and then we're going to fish up the show with the last segment. So hold tight.
I'll be right back.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Dave Pilatch on Let's Talk Cars Radio. Dave,
We'll be right back.
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Speaker 1: Nobody remembers the name JF. Witlow and Signs Incorporated until
you need them. But when you have a toilet problem,
drains back up, pipes, freeze, your heat or air conditioning stops working, then you remember JF. Whitlow and Sons. Don't
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Speaker 7: Hey, Michelle, thanks for coming in.
Speaker 2: No problem. What is that? Oh? Curtis dropped that off
earlier this week. He calls it the excitement button. Every
time you say liberty, I'm supposed to push this button. Liberty, Yeah, liberty,
ooh yeah, liberty.
Speaker 7: Liberty Transmissions for the Working Men.
Speaker 4: I don't know about this, Dave.
Speaker 2: You gotta admit it's got a ring to it.
Speaker 1: Liberty Transmission two three three thirty one thirty one. That's
two three three thirty one thirty one. Better yet, visit
them today. Fifty one sixty Singleton Way in Virginia Beach
two three three three one three one. Liberty Transmission. Welcome
back to Let's Talk Cars Radio. You're automotive specialist. Now
back to your host, Dave Polach.
Speaker 2: Hey, guys, welcome back. All right, so this last segment
got a little something different for you guys. So, uh,
if you go look, apparently Uber has uh put up their twenty twenty six list of weird things Left in cars?
So you never left anything in an Uber?
Speaker 1: I mean to have?
Speaker 2: Okay, So by nope, yes, you weren't you with me when that happened? I what it was me, But you're
whip me when it happened, I'd have I've never left anything. Way.
If I didn'tell, I thought I told the story. But
if I didn't I had it. I've lost a couple
of things in uber, but a couple a couple of things, well, one wasn't a Uber, I get well, it was tax tax taxi. I lost a cell phone in a taxi
because I was wearing a pair of track pants and the way that the pockets when you have track pants on and you know, hoodie and stuff, things slip out.
And I had it. I put a hand on it.
It was there. But to be fair, I don't believe
it was my fault. I still to this day it
was my fault in the end, but it wasn't my fault.
The taxi pulled up on the wrong side of the road.
He crossed over pooled, which then made me have to slide all the way across the seat to get out.
I know, from my seat this side, all the way across, and the process of sliding across the seat, I think my phone slid out because it's you know, everything slick, the phone slick, the pockets are slick, and it fell out.
Now had I just been able to open my door and get out on my side nothing when it fell out of my pocket, That's that's I think how it happened.
I don't know. That's what I believe, because I had
to go all the way across the seat. I remember
having like kind of like hunch right, hunch over, and I think it jerked my pocket enough to for to drop out. So that cost me a brand new cell phone,
because of course when I called the company, we haven't seen your you know at that point in time, that's your two thousand dollars cell phone, because that's what they cost back then, so nobody had seen it. And of course,
so that cost me a phone. Then move forward, it
was like the new Samsung. Yeah, it was like the
brand new Samsung at that point in time that just came out, and yeah, it was very very expensive. So
move forward. Nathaniel and I think we were in Chicago,
so we were less when we're coming back to the from the game. Yeah, so we're coming back from a
from Uh we went to the Wriglar Field to a game and really cool Uber driver, real nice guy guy was awesome and stuff. So uh, it was very efficient quick,
so I decided, and he was tell us a story about how he was having a some hard time, some hard times and whatnot and stuff, and I was just like, man, you know, and generally, I key and all that stuff.
You guys do what you guys want to do. But
I just believe and sometimes pay it forward. I don't know.
I'm very generous, uh tipper. I always have been, especially
you know, if someone if I get to a we had we had a drive. We had like a thirty
minute drive to get to the airport, and so the guy just talked to stuff. He was really nice guy,
but he was he was going through so oft times.
So I decided to give Hi a hundred dollar tip.
You guys do you I was doing me? Uh, I
get a guy one hundred dollars. I think my two
Uber ride was like fifty three dollars, and I guess, so I gave him a hundred dollars on top of the fifty three dollars to the Uber ride because I had it and I just felt like it was the right thing to do. Get out of the car, we
get in the airport, we go, keep drives away, he drives away. We're in the airport, we're getting ready to
go through security. It's time to show your ID. I
reached my pocket and I'm like, where's my wallet.
Speaker 4: Finally we got forty minutes to get on the plane.
Speaker 2: Once again, I wasn't wear a tracksuit just and anybody who wants to joke me on the tracksuit ahead, I know you guys want a tracksuit. I had a pair
of very comfortable lightweight uh there there. They're a casual jogger,
though they actually wear pocket and I have learned my lesson from traveling. I put my stuff into pockets. The
pair that I wear has zipper so I can zip the pocket so nothing can fall out. I n zipped
the pocket to give the guy the tip. I unzipped
the pocket, took my wallet out and zipped it so I give him the tip. Because I was sitting in
the seat, I slid my wallet back down there and I thought I pulled the zipper, and I didn't get all the way close. I go get out of the car,
and apparently a wallet it fell out of that back pocket.
Now that uber driver came back and found.
Speaker 4: Us, and we weren't by the front door.
Speaker 2: Guy, and we were not by the front door, by the way, and if you have ever on top that he double parked his car in the no tow zone to come run and run down and find us. Okay,
that just doesn't happen deserve that it didn't didn't. You know,
It's not like he got the tip afterwards. He got
the tip, that one hundred dollars tip before because he told me about the bad thing. Now he runs me down,
brings me my wallet. By the way, it was like
six hundred dollars in my wallet when he had me my wallet. Now this guy just told us the story,
just told us the story about how he was having a bad time. When he brings me my wallet, guess
what's in my wallet? All your money, all my money.
He easily, guys could have took my money because he was gone bad times and I didn't see your wallet.
He brought my wallet had the money. So what do
we do? Another hid hours? We did? I mean, and
I think it was the right thing to do. I
didn't have to replace my credit cards, ID have to go get a new driver's license. By the way, I
wasn't getting on a plane. I didn't hail driver's like
you can't get on the plane. And I was there's
three of us guys.
Speaker 4: We're over here thinking about renting.
Speaker 2: Cars now, like we literally we're like, all right, we're renting a car on five minutes span yeah, it wasn't five minutes span. We were like, we are renting a car,
we are driving back. Here comes this so we were
just like, man.
Speaker 4: Well we start heading backwards towards the door. We're like,
all right, well maybe we can catch him. Were no,
he's gone, hey, let me let me see if I can call him. He doesn't pick up his phone because
he left his phone in the car to come running find us.
Speaker 2: He literally left his car running out in the tow way zone to come find us. I mean, what a
great guy. I mean, it's awesome if you're out there listening,
because he did take all the information now for our show.
So if you have to listening, man, I still think you're awesome. But there is a list of things left
in ubers. Any idea.
Speaker 4: A flash light close the other show, but I guess a flashlight, I'm I guess a I'm a guess a shake up and you draw on that's sketch. I'm a
guess Pokemon cards am I close?
Speaker 2: No? No, get over a rip And we're getting close.
Speaker 6: Like some of the things I'm coming up with from like I want to be able to say on radio.
Some of those are on the list too, Probably but it's like I would.
Speaker 4: Beats the beats in the list.
Speaker 6: Beats I would I would probably say like food, you know, like food would probably be on there.
Speaker 2: But when it comes to food, it'd be like what it falls into the food category, like a honey? Probably,
I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 4: All right, already, razor, right now, it must not be in general items. I'm off wall items over here.
Speaker 2: Question you were like, wiser, I'll give you the first one.
So the first one. And this is crazy to me
that this was on the list. Someone's dentures. They leave dentures.
How do you leave like you're already missing the most of your teeth if you got dentures? How what you
just decided to take your dentures out while you're in the uber and left them in the car. That's so strange.
It's really weird. We're trying to have a conversation.
Speaker 4: Oh that's awful camera you have, but like when you stepped out, you opened your mouth, you didn't realize maybe all right.
Speaker 2: A bag of marbles, A bag of marbles on the list.
I wonder how many times a bag of marble has been left but bag of marbles on their list somebody lost their marbles.
Speaker 6: Trying to figure out what I would try and figure out what you would have needed the marbles.
Speaker 2: I have no idea. Funny though they lost. Here's a
crazy one. Someone left their acle monitor in the uber.
That means you took your ale.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna tell you right now. They didn't lead.
Speaker 2: They just they left it there so they looked like they knew you want that direction.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Maybe all want to say, guys, is if you lost your ankle monitor in an uber, the last thing you need to be worried about is the uber. You need
a good lawyer. You shouldn't have called for an uber.
You should have called for a lawyer for sure. Here's
what I surprised you, guys, overlooked. People are constantly leaving
their bag of weed in ubers. Happens a lot. Apparently,
that's really one of the ones. I couldn't say on
the same. As much as we probably costs, I don't know,
you guys tell me would have cost. But don't I
have no idea. I'm sure out there, how do you
leave that? I mean, oh maybe, yeah, okay, so maybe
that's for that country. Maybe Okay, I.
Speaker 4: Can see that. I can see that purposely leaving it behind.
Speaker 2: Here's here's another one. A live fish. Someone left live
fish in a bag. That's the live fish in an uber.
Forgot that you had a live fish again.
Speaker 4: I don't think he left it.
Speaker 2: I think or like forgot it. I think he just
here's the thing. Though, you took the uber to the
store to buy the fish, did you?
Speaker 4: Are you sure? Though you did fish picked you, you didn't
get upselled. And he was like, I don't even want
this fish anyways. You keep it all.
Speaker 2: Right, and last but not least, the strangest thing that it does fall technically underneath food, any idea, I would say, honey, not honey idea.
Speaker 4: I mean I thought, like pizza would be a pretty good A pineapple, somebody lets a pineapple.
Speaker 2: A coconut, No, not a coconut. A birthday cake, not
a birthday cake. That'd be a good one, though, birthday
cake ready for it. Yeah. They left their breast milk
that they had taken and left it in the car.
I guess that's technically food. They can't covered his face.
He's like, no, yeah, how do you leave that behind?
I don't even understand how that even happens.
Speaker 4: I carry a kid in one hand.
Speaker 2: Maybe, okay, forget the bottle.
Speaker 4: Maybe.
Speaker 2: But here's the thing I started thinking about it. If
you left to lie fish behind, you probably shouldn't have kids, because if you can leave a life fish behind, there's a good chance you could leave your child behind too, though.
Think the life fish pretty quiet in the cup holder, so you know they probably forgot. That's a stretch. That's
a big stretch. No thinks about the bag. You know
just what? All right? You know I too? All right? Now,
you guys know what the list of things that were left behind in ubers if you left something weird in an uber or just left something behind, so the semester tell us what it was, because, like I said.
Speaker 4: Nobody's ever left a net sketch that wasn't on the wist.
Speaker 2: That's a sketch. I really thought that s sketch was
actually a pretty funny answer, But the rubiksku is even better.
And then no, guys, we gotta go ahead and get out of here. I hope you are enjoying your sareay,
Like I said, some day's right around the corner. Make
sure that you unplug, uh, hide your phone from your kids, spend some time with the kids. Build a car, restore one,
work on it whatever, fire up the girl, playboard game, anything.
Just spend some time with it. You will love the
memories and they'll love them too. I met no guys.
We're going ahead, get out of here. We'll talk to
you guys soon later
About this episode
A project-car story kicks things off with a gently used one-owner Camry V6 XL, including transmission and top-end work. The conversation then widens into right-to-repair: automakers claim owners can’t handle newer cars, parts get harder to find, and access can be locked behind subscriptions or diagnostics. DIY bodywork and detailing tips follow—rust inhibition, patch panels, filler, and stain chemistry. The episode ends with a string of wild Uber/taxi mishaps and odd items left behind.
Original notes
On today's episode of Let's Talk Cars Radio, the crew is back and talk about their undercover project and the massive "Right to Repair" battle against automakers trying to lock you out of fixing your own vehicles. Plus, we share some laughs over Uber's list of the wildest things left behind by passengers, including a live fish and an ankle monitor!
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Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/let-s-talk-cars-radio--5026292/support.
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