A friend of mine has absolutely no clue about which mutual fund his wife invested their money in before she died. When the statements arrive, he claims that he throws them out, so he certainly isn’t ever going to learn how his late wife invested their money, or even how much money is in that fund. He “thinks that it is a Vanguard fund”, but he isn’t even sure about that.
When I e-mailed him some info recently regarding how to protect himself in the wake of the Equifax data breach, his response was, “I’m not a customer of theirs, so I have nothing to worry about”.
I had to carefully explain to him that all of the credit rating agencies have ALL of his biodata and info on his credit cards, his mortgage, and probably some other stuff as well, whether he has ever dealt directly with them, or not. He claims to have never known this, and this guy is not stupid.
Some people just seem to insulate themselves from learning vital information, but I can’t explain why that is the case.
I can’t speak for the manufactures but the last few new vehicles we bought either the sales rep or the service manager gave a very good tutorial on the features and how to do basic fluid checks.
i got an email from honda that said we are overdue for service on our 2 yr old car. the oil life is at 50%. i think we are driving less the last few months. maybe their computer algorythim computed our mileage based on previous oil change? i know we went over 6 months last time and i believe we were at 20% when i went in. they do a full syn oil change for $20. cant beat that
Or…
could it be that they assume you are a “normal” owner who doesn’t check oil and are more than likely overdue for a change or don’t know when it’s due? CSA
No, but he IS ignorant. Ignorance can be cured… and you hopefully were his “cure” about Equifax!
I run into this nearly everyday with intelligent people who just don’t care to learn about subjects beyond their expertise. Not that they can’t, they won’t. That is OK as long as they hire experts to take care of that stuff for them but trouble arises when they ignore it.
Consider the fact that he went 3 years w/o changing the oil in his Scion, despite my reminders a couple of times per year that he needed to do it! He finally had the oil changed about a month ago, but I had to browbeat him excessively in order for him to actually take that step.
For 3 years, I kept hearing the same nonsense, namely, “The oil looks clean, and they don’t specify an oil change until you reach 5 k miles.” (He uses his car only for short-trip local driving, and only accumulated ~3k miles in 3 years. You and I know that this is the absolute worst thing that you can do to an engine, but he persisted with his denial routine.)
I had been stressing the either/or odometer mileage/elapsed time factor for three years, but until I became absolutely brutal with him, he didn’t acknowledge the existence of the elapsed time factor.
I have come to the conclusion that he is simply lazy, and–according to him–the psychologist who he went to for counseling and analysis told him the same thing. He admits that, if he could just lie on his couch–all day/every day–and do nothing except watch movies and porn, he would be very happy.
Prior to the 1970’s it was very common for the attendant at the gasoline station to check the oil dipstick for you whenever you filled up with gas. That’s a good time to check it since you are parked and nothing much for the attendant to do while the tank fills up anyway. After that most stations became self service, so the owner had to check the oil themselves. In return they got lower gasoline prices. My elderly neighbor refused to check his own oil, so he’d drive his car to his mechanic and have them check it once a month. The mechanic wanted the business, so was happy to provide this service to a continuing customer for free. OP might ask their own mechanic if they’d be willing to check the oil on the dipstick once a month for them.
LOL, wow, does that bring back memories! They’d do all that, wash he windshield, and if they were competing with another station, give you a free drinking glass (for a fillup)!
Yup!
When I was a gas jockey, we did all of that and we even checked tire pressure upon request.
When he was in college, and really short of money, my brother used to get his gas from the only cut-rate station in the area. One winter, they began giving out bags of traction grit with a fill-up–which was very practical.
The next year, their give-away with a fill-up was a roll of toilet paper. No, I am not kidding!
The TP was not wrapped, and was…let’s just say…not of the highest quality. But, it was something to keep in the trunk in case of an emergency.
I think that is the wrong “lesson”. You should always check the oil after an oil change, check for leaks and keep checking the oil frequently. I have also taught my wife to always peak under the car before getting in to drive. She once caught an transmission oil leak.
Good. There’s a bit of advice often mentioned here w/regard to oil changes: before driving away from the shop check the dipstick, watch for the oil light coming on the rest of the day, then check the dipstick again the next morning. That’s to catch shop-caused problems like they drained the oil but forgot to fill it up again, forgot to tighten the drain plug, or a problem with the oil filter. Shop techs, even though they may have plenty of experience and training, are still people. They might get a phone call in the middle of an oil change, and forget exactly where they left off upon returning, and miss a step in the process. It shouldn’t happen, but it does, even with pros.
Let me be clear here. There was absolutely no oil leakage when the car was in garage over the last 6 months (after my last oil change). The oil filter just fell off while driving one fine morning, and the engine lost all the oil during the 3 mile drive. I do not think regular checking of the oil level would have prevented this.
I agree with @galant not quite the full lesson. There’s no reason to have work done at a dealership unless it’s warranty work. Use a trusted independent mechanic, peak under the car before you leave, and frequently (at least weekly) check your oil level
