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CARMandP, I am with you about government intrusion and less government. However, there are some cars on the road that should not be driver without some attention and they endanger us all. There was a boy from Washington, Indiana, who played basketball at East Tennessee State. He was almost 7 foot. Coming back home from school he hydroplaned and was killed. I bet if you could have saw the tires on that vehicle you will know why he hydroplaned. http://www2.tricities.com/news/2009/jul/30/etsu_basketball_player_killed_in_car_crash-ar-242850/

I just realized that I have now joined Joe in the 1,000 post club. I encourage everyone to both read and post. This is a very valuable forum and I would like to see it grow and increase its reach.

My home state is Kentucky. They use to have a vehicle inspection but it was discontinued some where about 1980. I do not know if Indiana has ever had one but we do not have one now. I am all for vehicle inspections. All the time we see vehicles that are unsafe to drive and the owners do not fix them but continue to drive them. This is especially true concerning tires.

We recently had a customer buy a 2002 Cadillac Sedan Deville. She brought it to us to check it out AFTER she bought it. The exterior and interior looked great but when we got it up into the air we saw one of the rustiest undercarriages we have seen in a long time. We do not have that type of rust here in Southern Indiana so it had came from up north. It was going to need all four rotors and new brakes. If she keeps it for any length of time she will probably have issues with fuel lines and brakes lines. We took her out and let her see it and boy was she upset. She thought she had bought a cherry and instead had a lemon.

I haven't worked with BG but Jasper is very good. Extended warranty companies AUL, GE, Toyota, and GMC are all good.

What is even worse than the diamond in the rough deal is the vehicle that wasn't a great deal but where the customer paid more than market price and it is still a piece of junk. I had a 16 year old girl stop at my shop with her mother at closing time recently with an overheating car an older Dodge Neon with 150,000 miles plus. She had bought it from a dealer the day before for $2,500. I raised the hood and took one look at it and found the radiator was full of rusty muddy water with no flow. At a minimum it would need a timing belt, water pump, probably a timing belt kit, a serious flushing, and probably a radiator, at least $700-$1000. I didn't look for any other problems. Her dad had "checked" the car out and bought it because it ran good. Ofcourse he didn't drive it long enough to heat up. Now they are going to have a family friend shade tree mechanic fix it and try to save money. I hate to think about how much money they wind up dropping into this piece of junk after the friend possibly screws it up more. Those prepurchase inspections can save a lot of grief. We have prevented a lot of people from making horrible purchase decisions. Of course I will never forget the time that we inspected a hunk of junk Hyundai that had been wrecked and improperly repaired. Nothing fit correctly. We showed the customer all of the problems and basically advised against the purchase. They happily paid the inspection fee and then showed up at the shop two days later for us to do some work on this hunk of junk that they had happily purchased. They should have saved their money on the inspection because they didn't listen to a word we said.

A friend of mine at another shop told me today about a car that needed a transmission. They offered to do a rebuild for $1600. The customer found a used one for $500 and had them to put it in. The owner explained to the customer that they were responsible for labor if it was no good. They had to install three used transmissions to get a good one and the customer is in the hole for about $3500. That was the result of trying to save a buck. Some of these insurance/warranty companies are just that stupid. I don't mind installing used parts for some suspension or frame pieces but not for electrical and moving parts. Here is a question for you Joe. Do you think some of these junk warranty companies are owned by organized crime or the Russian Mafia.? That is almost how they operate. Just skimming inside of what is legal. Am I too harsh in thinking that?

Some of these extended warranty companies are the skum of the earth and the warranty is only slightly better than worthless.

I agree. I would never install a used rack and pinion. That is one of the most ludicrus things I have ever heard. Who was the JUNK insurance company.

Amen!

They have no clue on how much we spend on scan tools, AllData, Identifix, Mitchell, etc. Do they?

When I couldn't get onto the site I began to have withdrawal symptoms. Thanks for getting it back up and saving me!

That us great to hear. I take it that your relocation is working out. ARe you going to add any help?

The sense is this that Obama is totally stupid which I do not believe or he hates our country and free enterprise system and is doing his best to change us into a socialist state.

Thanks!

Yes, and I also check if something seems to high or too low.

I find it necessary to do it some. It seems that some vendors give good price to gain your business but then raise prices after a time. O'Reilly did that to us. They use to be our first call but now they are typically our most expensive vendor. Currently we are using two vendors primarily.

Nice! Really nice! Looks like you had a great time. Who are your friends?

They are funny but I like the SWAG best.

Sounds like a "loose nut between the steering wheel and the seat" to me.

I have a very faithful loyal customer who is moving to Aurora, Ohio, the Cleveland area. Are any of the guys in that area or can recommend a reputable shop in that area.

What are you guys using to diagnose and reset TPMS systems. We have a machine a few years old and are having trouble with new stuff.