RE: Unrealistic Expectations?

John Goodyear (jjg@optsys.com)
Tue, 30 Jun 1998 12:33:10 -0400

Philip,
My opinion:
>>Do such auto shops exist in America today?
I don't think so. A shop would have the take the time to go the extra mile
for each individual job it did on every car. As they most often use the
hour figure from a book to determine your jobs pricing Every shortcut they
can take is money in the bank. I can think of some jobs that could take 15
minutes to 45 dependant on the attention to detail of the mechanic. When
you do electrical work: do you clean all the contacts when they are off.
If you splice wire, do you solder the connection to make it last a lifetime
or just wrap copper with electrical tape so it will fail in two years and
you can collect on quick fixing it again?

>> or are owners who want to
>>keep their car looking and running well for twenty years and do so in a
>>cost effective manner, almost by definition going to have to become
>>do-it-yourselfers?

YES!
I continually go through cycles where I say to myself "I just don't have the
time to do this myself" then I take the car to the shop. I almost always
regret that decision and sometimes end up redoing the work myself anyway.
It will take about a year for me to use a mechanic again and the cycle will
repeat.

Has anyone had there oil plug chiseled out because the mechanic doing the
oil change did not have the proper large Allen key to remove it? I HAVE!!
@#$%^&

This is one of those times I said "It's the middle of January and its
freezing out there. How could anyone screw up an oil change. I will send it
in." I am sure everyone heard me scream when I got back under the car in
the spring and saw the condition of my plug/pan.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: Philip R Glotfelty [mailto:glotfelty@juno.com]
Sent: Monday, June 29, 1998 8:13 PM
To: peugeot@padui.org
Subject: Unrealistic Expectations?

Thanks to everyone's input, I'm getting a better picture of the level of
preventive maintenance, inspection and cleaning necessary to keep a car
looking and running showroom new for twenty years.

My question today is, "can you buy this service in America today?" My
guess is you're lucky if you can find a full service auto shop that will
work with you to keep your car running and looking good for it's expected
life, and perhaps luckier still if you can afford the service.

Do such auto shops exist in America today? or are owners who want to
keep their car looking and running well for twenty years and do so in a
cost effective manner, almost by definition going to have to become
do-it-yourselfers?

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Philip G.
88 and 89 Peugeots
looking ahead to the next decade of ownerships

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