Why some people are too stupid to own a car

[masseyrider]

When I drove a van doing liquor delivery for my friends dad, the van was running poorly. I ask my friends dad when it was last serviced, he said about 2 weeks ago.
I pulled the stick and it had no oil.
That van died at 30K and I still think my friends dad kept going back to that station.
He knew nothing about cars, and the station people knew he had money...

My fathers friend bought a brand new Buick Skylark.
He went to the dealership for the first oil change and decided to visit Pa on the way home.
We were outside and could hear him coming.
When he got out we asked him what's wrong with your car?
"don't know, just got it serviced"
Opened his hood and checked his oil. Nothing on the stick.
Took almost 5 quarts to get to full.
Give the old small block GMs credit, he had that car for years without any issues.
But it was at the selling dealership they did this to him.

 

[dodge man]

One thing to remember is a lot of people on this forum do their own maintenance, they are inquisitive, they like to understand how things work, and understand the basics about how all the things on a car work. The average person is way behind most of us on that. I had my daughter call me when she was in college and ask how to add air to the tires.

 

[Jstpssng]

A former coworker put his 4 kids in his car and drove 100 miles to buy a new truck. He settled on a new 1993 F150; made the deal and headed home. He was 5 miles away headed up the interstate when "the engine blew"... which could mean a lot of things depending on the person. He got towed back to the dealer, tore up the paperwork and bought a new Dakota instead.
I don't know exactly what happened but have always suspected the filter was loose or the drain plug fell out.

 

[NoTrespassing]

One thing to remember is a lot of people on this forum do their own maintenance, they are inquisitive, they like to understand how things work, and understand the basics about how all the things on a car work. The average person is way behind most of us on that. I had my daughter call me when she was in college and ask how to add air to the tires.

Our shipping clerk had a low tire one day so we told him to pull it around back and he could use our air hose. The guy couldn't get the valve stem cap off. He was pulling on it as my coworker and I looked on in amazement. He looked back over his shoulder and said, "they just pull off right"? He's in his early 20's.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

Something I always wondered:

You buy a new truck with a 100K powertrain warranty.
Let’s say the truck has 50,000 miles on it and the tranny (transmission) fails.
In the owners manual it says the transmission fluid must be changed every 25,000 miles.
However, records show the owner waited until 25,500 miles for first transmission fluid change.

Is the warranty voided?

GM is pushing pre-paid maintenance plans as "insurance" that they will honor their warranty.

Pre-Paid Maintenance Plans | GMC Protection

<p>GMC Protection Pre-Paid Maintenance covers oil changes, tire rotations, fluid top-offs, air filters, cabin air filters, fluid changes and more.</p>

www.gmc.com

 

[KennyG]

A lot of the manufacturers have nonsense in the maintenance requirements. I don't know if it's to negate warranties or just laziness. Years ago, I bought a Dodge 4WD truck and the maintenance said you didn't need to change the differential lube unless you operated in severe conditions and then you had to change it very often, like every 12,000 miles or something. Severe conditions included dusty conditions and OPERATION AT LOWER THAN 32 deg F. I changed it to synthetic lube after a year and my son is still driving it 18 years later.

 

[masseyrider]

One thing to remember is a lot of people on this forum do their own maintenance, they are inquisitive, they like to understand how things work, and understand the basics about how all the things on a car work. The average person is way behind most of us on that. I had my daughter call me when she was in college and ask how to add air to the tires.

Years back my girlfriends coworker took her new car back to the dealership.
The wind shield washer unit wasn't working.
Turned out she had used up all the fluid and didn't realize you had to refill it.
She was blonde.

 

[jjeff]

Years back my girlfriends coworker took her new car back to the dealership.
The wind shield washer unit wasn't working.
Turned out she had used up all the fluid and didn't realize you had to refill it.
She was blonde.

Did she at least fill up the blinker fluid?

 

[jjeff]

Ex wife drove 300 miles at night with only daytime running lights on. Couldn't figure why the lights on the loaner car were so dim or why people were flashing her. When she arrived where I was I politely turned them on for her. Didn't communicate for a week after that.

 

[Cougsfan]

When you make cars that can go 100,000 plus miles with no more than occasional oil changes you tend to make "idiots" out of many car owners. I think that is just a natural phenomenon. Us "non-idiots" laugh at them, but all in all, owning a car these days requires a whole lot less expertise than it did in years past and maybe a bit of understanding is in order. Heck my kids, who could probably be classified as automobile idiots, laugh at me when I can't even make my phone text a picture that I just took.